Business students visit London ahead of 2015 general election

As part of the college’s mission to increase political awareness a group of 50 students from across college visited Westminster Palace. This was kindly arranged by Paul Farrelly the MP from Newcastle under Lyme and partly funded by the Government scheme to engage 16-18 year old first time voters. 

The Business students caught the train to London and after a very busy Tube journey and a short walk taking in the London Eye and Westminster Bridge. We arrived at Westminster Palace for our tour, so after the obligatory security checks, we met our tour guide (Colin) in Westminster Hall. 

 

The tour then consisted of us moving from room to room with Colin providing historical facts along the way.  Highlights of the tour included the House of Lords, House of Commons (the interior of which was donated from different countries of the Commonwealth) and one of the original 4 copies of the Magna Carta. 

 

After being filled to the brim with fascinating facts (did you know that there is a fully functional post office in the palace of Westminster that anyone can use?) we all went for lunch to fill up in another way.

After meeting in Parliament Square, at the foot of Gandhi’s statue we made our way to Kensington for some serious window shopping in Harrods and a visit to the Chocolate Café on the second floor. Followed by a train journey home with many tired but politically motivated students.

Dan Turner, Vocational Business lecture, said “It was great to see students from many vocational areas across college so enthused and engaged by our political history and processes. I am sure every one of them will take much more interest in the debates leading up to the 7^th May and are looking forward to casting their vote”.

Students to quiz parties in Question Time event.

 

Friday 27 March saw political party representatives from Conservative, UKIP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Green Party quizzed by young people on their parties’ visions for the future.

The vocational business team organised the event in a Question Time format which will allowed them to engage with politicians and get the answers to questions surrounding local politics. This event was organised to engage students with politics and to understand the importance of using their vote.

 

Student Kieran Rosenau-White said: “The event aimed to highlight the importance of voting, even if some students won’t be eligible for this general election. Forming a point of view and understanding policies that will affect themselves or their families will help them to better understand in the future.”

 

NULC students are being encouraged to learn about the main political parties’ policies and plans should they win the election and form their own views on who they’d like to see in power. Around 2,900 NULC students will be eligible to vote by 7 May. During the last general election only 44 per cent of 18-24 year olds voted, meaning that over half are not helping to influence who helps to run the country.

 

 

 

Said Kieran: “Young people can sometimes feel like their opinion isn’t valid, but with less than half of 18-24 year olds voting in the last election, it shows that their views can really make a difference and their vote really does count.”

 

A follow up event has also been arranged where Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Paul Farrelly will be talking to students about his party’s policies and how they could implement these after the next election which includes education, costs of living and many more issues which will effect students at NULC.

 

NULC offers vocational courses across a number of subject areas and 36 different A/AS levels including Government and Politics. If you would like to find out more about our range of courses at NULC, visit: http://www.nulc.ac.uk