Written by Pollyanna, Year 12
On Monday 1st of July, students, parents, teachers and constituents within the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency came together for a dynamic and engaging political hustings. The hustings provided a platform for candidates to answer questions, many of which came from parents and students at schools within the constituency. The candidates were able to discuss their visions for the future of Oxford West and Abingdon. The Hustings served as a crucial forum for democratic engagement within the local community. Candidates running from a variety of parties, Christian People’s Alliance, Reform, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Green. They took to the stage with their opening statement, to outline their visions and plans for the future – in one minute only! Then answering questions written by students, parents and local residents.
From the beginning ,the question thinking process involved a lot of creative thinking. We started to brainstorm questions alongside our A Level Politics class, as well as taking suggestions from parents and pupils from other schools. It was a huge collaborative effort that required a lot of teamwork. On the day of the hustings, Rosie and I buried ourselves away in the Ada Benson Building, planning out the hustings to the very last detail. All questions were carefully thought out and the order of candidates for each question was randomly decided by a ‘spinning-wheel’ on google. We chose to use this to ensure that we gave each candidate a fair opportunity to speak on the question, without certain candidates speaking first or last multiple times.
The candidates then arrived at school in the evening and were greeted by the year 12 politics class and jugs of alcohol-free pimms! The event was structured to maximise interaction and transparency. Candidates began with a one minute opening statement, each articulating their goals and any changes that they may wish to implement, if they were elected. This was followed by a series of questions put forward by Rosie and I. Once the event started the candidates were well-prepared and eloquent, tackling a wide range of topics from education and environment to economy and broader social issues. The audience were engaged throughout the lively debate.
One of the highlights for us was being able to ask questions which will have an effect upon the future generations, despite not being able to vote this time around. We were grateful for the opportunity to ask key questions and get answers on issues such as the proposed LTNs, VAT tax and environmental/immigration issues.
We are incredibly proud of what we achieved with the event as well as incredibly grateful for this opportunity. This gave us the chance to be a platform for election campaigning at such a crucial time in this general election. We hope that the enthusiasm which radiated from the candidates will continue to grow and therefore inspire residents of the constituency. Thank you to everyone who supported us in making this Hustings event a success. We look forward to seeing the positive impacts of our efforts on the upcoming elections and beyond.
