Thame pupils take on election candidates

THE General Election may be over two weeks away, but pupils from Lord Williams’s School in Thame, held a vote of their own following a hustings at the school on Friday (April 17).

Friday’s event, which was filmed by Harry Parsons of Radio Blackfrog, was the first hustings in the Henley Constituenct (which includes Thame), with all five of the General Election candidates taking part.

With an audience of over 100 Years 12 and 13 students, and teachers from Lord Williams’s, the room was so packed that some people sat on the floor for the entire session. There were a wide range of questions for the five candidates, John Howell – Conservative, Sam Juthani – Labour, Sue Cooper – Liberal Democrats, Christopher Jones – UKIP and Mark Stevenson – Green Party, including on threats to the UK, housing, health and gender equality. There seemed to be particular interest in the questions around the NHS and housing.

After the hustings was finished, students were polled as to who they would vote for. The results were as follows:

Conservative – 10.8%
Greens – 10.8%
Labour – 65.6%
Lib Dem – 3.9%
UKIP – 2.5%
Spoilt – 6.4%

You can see Harry Parsons’ film of the hustings event at Lord Williams’s at Blackfrog Radio (keep up on facebook HERE)  on Tuesday, at 8pm, and afterwards.