On Wednesday 3rd December I went to Westminster to meet with Lynda Atkins, a Wallingford Town Councillor and Parliamentary Assistant to Wallingford MP, Ed Vaizey. We were meeting to discuss arrangements for a possible hustings to take place in April next year in preparation for the 2015 general election, in which we are hoping to involve students.

As we sat in Portcullis House (the building known as the 'Westminster Village', opposite the Houses of Parliament), surrounded by some familiar faces, we came to an arrangement that an election hustings would take place in April 2015 in the Sixth Form Common Room at Wallingford School, in which sixth form students (some of whom will be able to vote) and hopefully interested students from other years in the school can watch and participate in the debate. The hustings will involve candidates from all parties standing for Parliament in the local constituency, and they will be discussing issues that matter to students, such as tuition fees, employment and democracy.

Our discussion was followed by a quick tour around the Houses of Parliament, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I am really grateful to Lynda and her colleagues for giving up some of their time to show me around (on a particularly busy day, just hours before the Autumn Statement was announced!)

Stay tuned for more dates and information in the coming months on election hustings for next year!

-Will, Year 13