On Friday 6th November as part of UK Parliament Week the whole year 12 cohort had the opportunity to engage in politics with a session all about how the UK Parliament works and the importance of exercising the right to vote, followed by a Q&A with Lilian Greenwood.
With the power of Microsoft Teams Lilian opened the talk by outlining her route into the world of politics, she talked about her achievements and what she is passionate about and her hopes for Nottingham South. The most important message she shared with students was the need for everyone to vote, “decisions are made by those who show up!”
Lilian was then put through her paces with some outstanding questions from the students, some examples of these were:
- ‘Following discussion around Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of antisemitism within Labour, why has there been no action taken on Boris Johnson’s Islamophobia?’
- ‘What’s your opinion of a switch from a first past the post system to a proportional representation system?’
- ‘What are your thoughts on leaving the EU and is that why you resigned your front bench position?’
- ‘What have you done about knife crime in Nottingham?’
- ‘Do you agree with the way Boris Johnson has handled the UK lockdown?
The challenging questions were answered in detail and many sparked further discussions amongst the students throughout the day. There was a great buzz about the event and with the developing news of the US elections, politics was certainly the topic of the day.
There will be many more opportunities like this for students to engage with throughout the year, the next being a virtual lecture on ‘Engaging in Democracy’ taking place in 2 weeks’ time.
