We were proud to host students from The Langton, Canterbury, at our pre-Hustings General Election Schools Workshop.  Following this, we are thrilled that a number of students sent us their reflections on the key issues that have arisen during this month’s General Election.  We are privileged to publish this blog, in which a Year 12 student from The Langton discusses the many benefits of being involved in politics.  Often, young people can feel alienated from the political process. This is a problem for all of us.  However, this blog highlights that this is easily remedied: when we encourage and enable participation, politics thrives! 

It was a privilege to be able to attend the recent hustings at Canterbury Christ Church University. It was an incredibly insightful event which gave me valuable face-to-face experience and knowledge of the political world and how it functions.

The pre-hustings workshop was exciting and hands-on, allowing us to have our voices heard and to generate questions to be presented to the MPs. This was a great activity to develop important conversations and even started some debates between students, a seemingly fitting prelude to the debates which we witnessed during the hustings.

Though we unfortunately could not witness Labour MP Rosie Duffield present her policies in person, we were incredibly lucky to be able to present our questions to her virtually. This was a great opportunity as she has been the MP for Canterbury for many years and has helped our city grow and develop during her time in the Commons. 

When we moved downstairs to watch the hustings, the atmosphere was tense. The room was busy with the public and media representatives, and I was getting excited to see what the candidates had to say. After a very tense and insightful 2 hours, I felt incredibly privileged to be able to witness such an important part of the political process.

In my opinion, Henry Stanton of The Green Party performed the best, tackling difficult questions with ease and charisma, lightening the intensity of the evening whilst enlightening us on his plans for the future. 

Overall, I feel as if attending the hustings was a greatly beneficial experience. As I want to pursue a career in politics and study it at university, this event solidified that this is what I definitely want to do. It not only gave me a great insight into the hustings process, but also helped me to gain confidence to use my voice on important topics in the political landscape.