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Mock General Election

On the evening before the recent General Election, a group of pupils with political aspirations took part in the College's mock election hustings. The following report was prepared by classics Teacher, Theo Cowper.

"The hustings were organised by a small collection of staff who decided to organise a mock school election to run alongside the national General Election. In addition to engaging the school in political debate, its purpose was to offer a chance for those not currently able to vote to understand what each party stands for, who they might have voted for and how the voting system works in the UK.
 

The five Year 12 pupils who stood as parliamentary candidates for each of the main political parties exceeded all expectations and performed tremendously well under significant pressure and considerable scrutiny from their peers. 

The event began with opening statements, all of which gave the audience an idea of the character of our candidates from the outset. Georgia Yarnall showed herself to be very composed and resolute in her statement for the Conservative party; Adam Gills followed with a well-researched and fact-filled attack from the Labour party; Olivia O’Dwyer of the Liberal Democrats then responded with a personal and passionate plea; Kirsty Swaine spoke calmly and in a measured manner, talking of the benefits of the Green Party; and finally, Hamish Green finished the opening statements off with a charismatic speech, calling for the rise of the ‘common-sense’ party, the UK Independence Party.
 

From here on, the candidates fielded questions on Brexit, national security, the economy and national services, all orchestrated by the College’s Head of Politics and Government and the chair for the evening, Richard Bunce.The pupils in the audience were positively engaged throughout and had some excellent question. Mr Bunce did an exceptional job, allowing the party representatives to speak whilst keeping them to time and taking questions from the floor.

All who attended remarked on the professionalism of the pupils and a real sense of how well they had researched their respective policies and represented the heart and soul of their party. The must be commended for their performances which will, I am sure, have inspired and enthused their colleagues to become more involved in politics in the future.
 
On the actual day of the General Election pupils from all year groups were encouraged to cast their votes in a mock election. The eleven seats of Eastbourne College would have been allocated as follows:
 
Conservatives            9 seats
Green Party               1 seat ( Arnold )
Liberal Democrats      1 seat ( Watt )

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