Appealing to young voters, dealing with Donald Trump and facing the future
Bella Saville sums up the candidates' views on the youth vote, the US and the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester
Give 16 year olds the vote!
All four parliamentary candidates unanimously agreed that the voting age should be reduced to 16 and it is something their parties will be will be looking into doing.
Labour candidate, Christine Bayliss argued that the Labour party was connecting with young people through its successful social media campaign video, with the local videos they scoring thousands of views. Jonathon Kent blamed the current voting system saying: ‘Often young people don’t vote as they don’t believe they can make a difference.’
Lib Dem Joel Kemp, who is only 23, spoke about younger politicians like himself being a role model for young people which proves anyone can get involved regardless of their age.
Putting up with Trump, reluctantly
Lib Dem Joel Kemp said he was ‘uneasy’ about the comments Trump made towards London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Despite this, he emphasised the importance of maintaining our relationship with America as it is crucial to keep us and our economy safe. Again, all four candidates had very similar views on Trump however the strongest views against the American President were held by Jonathon Kent. The Green Party candidate described Trump as "despicable" for using the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester as a way to reinforce his travel ban from seven Muslim countries before showing any sense of sympathy or remorse for the poor victims during this terrible event. He also opposed to the idea of letting Trump make a state visit. Huw Merriman, however, said it was crucial to engage with the United States and Trump regardless of our feelings towards the man in charge. Christine Bayliss agreed but argued: ‘It is not acceptable for Trump to pull out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as it is so important to save our planet.”
Hold on to your values
In the light of the recent terrorist attacks all four politicians were keen to advise young people to hold on to democracy and keep working for a united future. Joel Kemp praised the phenomenal response from the emergency services after the London terrorist attack as armed police had managed to successfully shoot dead the terrorists within just seven minutes. “We must hold onto democracy in times like these,” he told us. Jonathon Kent similarly talked about how we should continue to remain strong and never give up our values. He went on to talk about examples in history that emphasised how strong we are us a country, including how the United Kingdom never gave up our values in some of the toughest times such as World War Two so we can continue to stay strong as a nation. Christine Bayliss finished with the words of the Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a right-wing extremist last year: “More unites us than divides us.”
Bella Saville, Y10
All four parliamentary candidates unanimously agreed that the voting age should be reduced to 16 and it is something their parties will be will be looking into doing.
Labour candidate, Christine Bayliss argued that the Labour party was connecting with young people through its successful social media campaign video, with the local videos they scoring thousands of views. Jonathon Kent blamed the current voting system saying: ‘Often young people don’t vote as they don’t believe they can make a difference.’
Lib Dem Joel Kemp, who is only 23, spoke about younger politicians like himself being a role model for young people which proves anyone can get involved regardless of their age.
Putting up with Trump, reluctantly
Lib Dem Joel Kemp said he was ‘uneasy’ about the comments Trump made towards London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Despite this, he emphasised the importance of maintaining our relationship with America as it is crucial to keep us and our economy safe. Again, all four candidates had very similar views on Trump however the strongest views against the American President were held by Jonathon Kent. The Green Party candidate described Trump as "despicable" for using the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester as a way to reinforce his travel ban from seven Muslim countries before showing any sense of sympathy or remorse for the poor victims during this terrible event. He also opposed to the idea of letting Trump make a state visit. Huw Merriman, however, said it was crucial to engage with the United States and Trump regardless of our feelings towards the man in charge. Christine Bayliss agreed but argued: ‘It is not acceptable for Trump to pull out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as it is so important to save our planet.”
Hold on to your values
In the light of the recent terrorist attacks all four politicians were keen to advise young people to hold on to democracy and keep working for a united future. Joel Kemp praised the phenomenal response from the emergency services after the London terrorist attack as armed police had managed to successfully shoot dead the terrorists within just seven minutes. “We must hold onto democracy in times like these,” he told us. Jonathon Kent similarly talked about how we should continue to remain strong and never give up our values. He went on to talk about examples in history that emphasised how strong we are us a country, including how the United Kingdom never gave up our values in some of the toughest times such as World War Two so we can continue to stay strong as a nation. Christine Bayliss finished with the words of the Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a right-wing extremist last year: “More unites us than divides us.”
Bella Saville, Y10