Students become MP’s and experience the real thing

Students at Shrewsbury Sixth Form College have taken part in a pre-election husting comprising candidates from the three major political parties as well as the Green Party and the Trade Union and Socialist coalition. Under the watchful eye of Head of Politics Dave Charlton, all representatives tabled their manifestos and took questions from the audience.

This event was the first in a series of events timed to coincide with the General Election. Tuesday 30th March sees the students engaging in a ‘Question Time’ style event with Student Council President James Ashford and Youth Parliament MP, Bridie Sedgbeer taking the role of David Dimbleby. Panellists are Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury & Atcham, Jon Tandy, prospective candidate for the Labour Party; Dr Charles West, prospective candidate for the Liberal Democrats and Alan Whittaker, prospective candidate for the Green Party. The programme concludes with the students ‘voting’ for their preferred political party.

‘I think it’s really exciting that the students have this chance to question the main parties before the general election’ comments Martin Ward, Principal. ‘Politics is a popular subject at the college with 148 students studying it this year and this is a unique opportunity to question the local candidates about their policies, as well as presenting all our students with the chance to ask about the issues that are important to them. Many of the students have just come back from Washington DC, where they met politicians from the US Senate. All these activities can only help our students with their studies and encourage the wider college community to actively participate in political life.’