ONE of Warrington’s MPs faced questions from the next generation of voters during a visit to Priestley College.
Andy Carter, MP for Warrington South, met Priestley’s Politics cohort as part of Parliament Week to discuss his life in Westminster and answer their questions.
Among them was former Birchwood Community High School pupil Evelyne Mayemba who was impressed with the MP.
“It felt as if I was at the House of Commons getting answers in real time and it allowed us to ask questions our textbooks simply can’t answer,” she said.
“I thought his honesty should be commended because even when asked hard questions he didn’t shy away from expressing his opinion.”
UK Parliament Week’s focus this year was on how small actions can lead to big changes, encouraging participants to get informed, take action and make an impact on issues they care about.
It was clear from the robust discussion at Priestley how passionate the students were about issues such as the Government’s handling of the pandemic, Free School Meals and the MP’s own approach to politics.
Priestley College Principal James Gresty said: “We believe it is important our students engage and understand the democratic process and opportunities like this are a great way of bringing it to life.
“It was clear from the students’ response how thought-provoking and valuable an experience it had been and we hope it was one Andy enjoyed as well.”
Andy said that UK Parliament Week was a great opportunity to examine the issues that are important to voters and used the annual event to highlight how they could work with politicians to bring about change.
“Active participation is vital in a thriving democracy and we all have our part to play,” he said.
“One of the highlights of the week for me was visiting Priestley College and finding out how passionate our next generation of voters really are about the issues of the day. I was able to speak to them about life as their local MP and my own path into politics.
“As well as answering lots of questions about a range of topics I also explained how the laws of the land are made and what MPs can and can’t help with.”
