Haywards Heath hustings victory for the Lib Dems!

23/04/2010

The hustings took place in front of a full house!

The College's Sixth Form Haywards Heath campus hosted its very own version of 'question time' this week, after inviting the Mid Sussex parliamentary candidates from the main political parties to a pre-election hustings and question and answer session at The Hub Theatre on Tuesday 20 April.

The event was attended by around three hundred students and staff members, who packed the 260-seater auditorium, and was chaired by College students Dominic Harper, Rob Chambers, and Alice Darby. Conservative candidate Nicholas Soames, Liberal Democrats' Serena Tierney, David Boot from the Labour Party, Paul Brown from the Green Party, Marc Montgomery from the UK Independence Party and Baron Von Thunderclap who represents the Monster Raving Loony Party in Mid Sussex, all took to the floor to give a two minute introduction to themselves and their party policy, plus an overview of the issues they felt would be key to winning the 2010 election, before facing questions from the audience.

After kicking off proceedings, 'Jerusalem' (Baron Von Thunderclap's patriotic ring-tone) rang out during Lib Dem candidate Serena Tierney's opening address, which temporarily broke the tension in the room, but the tone of the event soon returned to the serious matters in hand, with a range of key issues raised by the parties including taxation and the wider economy, Europe, public services and immigration, all mentioned in the candidates' opening two-minute speeches.

With many of the students aged eighteen and nineteen, and therefore first-time-voters, unsurprisingly, a large part of the question and answer section which followed focused on educational issues and the candidates faced questions ranging from tuition fees to course closures. A question about the equality of the university selection process, and whether the current system favours candidates from more privileged backgrounds prompted interesting responses from the candidates. Nicholas Soames, who is known for his privileged up-bringing, but did not attend University himself, stated that admissions to the top flight universities should be based on ability rather than background. Serena Tierney agreed with his point, while David Boot said that he believed that the student population should be more representative of society as a whole, and Paul Brown stressed that potential, rather than privilege is key.

Two of the more candid and rather personal responses from those on the panel on the topic of education included one candidate declaring that he was "far too thick to go to University" and another admitting that his three years of Higher Education was spent "drinking beer at the tax payer's expense!"

Although education featured highly on the list of topics, other big issues raised during the session included the NHS, with the debate centring on organ donation, the state of the economy, and how cuts to public spending could in effect do more harm than good, and the fairness of the election system as a whole, with one student raising a very interesting question about the pros and cons of traditional 'first past the post' voting as opposed to proportional representation.

After the session drew to a close, those present were asked to vote in a mock election, choosing their political preference through the current 'first past the post' system as well as the 'Alternative Vote,' designed so that the winner has the support of the majority of voters, either on first preference, or when second, third etc preferences are taken into account. 168 people voted in the 'first past the post' poll, and 134 in the 'Alternative Vote' and when the results were counted, Serena Tierney of the Liberal Democrats was the clear winner in both ballots, followed by Conservative Nicholas Soames, whilst Monster Raving Loony, Baron Von Thunderclap polled a very respectable fourth place in the traditional voting system - beating competition from The Green Party and The UK Independence Party representatives!

After the event, organiser John Hite, who teaches Politics at the College, praised the students for their involvement in organising and running the hustings, saying "The attendance of so many students who resisted the lure of the lunchtime sun, to listen to and question the local candidates was evidence that not all youth are politically apathetic. The student chairpersons did a great job in facilitating an informative and enjoyable debate and the overwhelming victory of Lib Dem candidate Serena Tierney in the ballot might be seen as further evidence of the Clegg effect!" Nicholas Soames was also complimentary about the event, commenting that it was an "extremely well organised debate which was brilliantly chaired. The quality of the questions from the students was superb."