ANY POLITICIAN declaring there is still apathy among Britain’s youngest voters might have had to eat their words had they faced an audience of Exeter College students putting questions to three of the city’s candidates today.
At times there were gasps, at others cheers, and, occasionally, the odd boo, as Exeter’s Ben Bradshaw (Labour), Hannah Foster (Conservative) and Graham Oakes (Liberal Democrat) took questions from the floor, many of them from first-time voters.
A number of staff from across the College, including Principal Richard Atkins, were also present to watch the live debate, which was carried out in a similar fashion to the recent televised leadership debates with each candidate responding in turn.
St David’s Church was literally filled to the rafters, as around 400 students crammed into the aisles to take part in Exeter College’s Student Question Time Hustings, keen to hear the views of local party representatives.
Those who had no chairs chose to remain standing throughout the length of a one-hour head-on debate, which had been jointly-organised by Exeter College Students Union (ECSU) and the Humanities faculty.
Clearly in awe of the huge turnout, the city’s current MP Ben Bradshaw congratulated his audience, declaring: “This is the biggest public meeting I’ve ever been to in all my 13 years in Exeter, so don’t let anybody say that young people are not interested in politics.”
The national deficit, immigration, student fees, Exeter’s bid for unitary status and ‘Bigotgate’ were all topics hot on the political agenda this afternoon.
While Head of Politics, Phil Chappell, chaired the hustings, ECSU President Kurtis Schofield fielded the questions to the panel.
Praising the staff at St David’s for their help in organising the venue, Kurtis said: “We did unfortunately have to start turning people away because there were so many turning up that we would have been in danger of going over capacity, which was incredible.
“Before this afternoon, I had been worried that the audience might have sat quietly and not asked any questions on the day, and that everyone would have had to sit there in embarrassing silence.
“But there were so many people wanting to ask questions that the debate could have gone on a lot longer than it did, and I feel really proud of the students at Exeter College today.”
Exeter College Head of Politics Phil Chappell said: “The students will have seen the television debates, so this was their version of them. It is important for them to think about who they vote for as their candidate locally and not only about who they would like to become the national leader.
“Whereas the turnout among first-time voters has traditionally been very low, it seems more young people have become interested in this election as a result of the televised debates – particularly with it looking like it could be a close result.”
Head of Humanities Clare Flood added: “There was a real buzz in the air during the debate. The atmosphere was amazing. I was really impressed by the both the students’ involvement and the questions they put to the panel.
“I think Graham summed up nicely at the end why it is so important that first-time voters do recognise their right to vote whatever their allegiance; their vote can make a difference and they can have a say in the future of our country.”