Six MPs from the Vauxhall constituency paid us a visit to answer all our students burning questions, in a bid to inspire the youth vote. At the last election the lowest voting age range was 18 – 25.

The MPs in attendance were:

Jaqueline Bond – Green Party

Sarah Bool - Conservatives

Florence Eshalomi - Labour

Andrew McGuiness- Brexit Party

Salah  Faissal - Independant

Sarah Lewis – Lib Dems

The HUB at Lambeth College was buzzing as the local MPs answered questions on Mental health, Knife Crime, Transport, Housing and Benefits and Education and Employment and our students weren’t short on questions.

The Hustings was chaired by Lambeth’s very own Journalism tutor, Sheila Smith, who managed to keep a composed room throughout, despite a few rumblings here and there from the crowd. The students managed to stay diplomatic even through the most controversial of issues such as BREXIT and mental health.

BREXIT was a hot topic and the audience didn’t seem to have their burning questions on the matter resolved, such as, ‘How can BREXIT benefit young people?’

Candidates debated back on forth on their policies with education being at the forefront and Labour seemed to be in the front running across all topics.

Vauxhall is mainly a Labour constituency and it came as no surprise that some of the BREXIT Party’s policies didn’t align with the values of the audience, and as can be imagined, tempers flared slightly, but were quickly quelled by Sheila’s chairing technique.

It was inspiring to see how involved the students were, especially with the youth vote being the lowest in the last election and this event could well convert the non-voters, as passion seemed to run high throughout, with the audience contributing well thought out arguments. They may not have received some of the answers they wanted at the Hustings, but maybe their voices will be heard at the next general election.