Reporting On Bablake's Live European Debate

A report from Bablake Political Society member and L6th pupil Beckie Carter:

'Earlier this week, Bablake was fortunate enough to host a political debate between five prospective and current MEPs for the West Midlands. For the event, organised by our 6th Form Political Society with excellent assistance from Deputy Head Mr Chris Seeley, we had candidates from all sides of the political spectrum, which meant viewers heard many opinions as well as some heated debate between the party representatives. This all made for a very entertaining and informative evening.

Chairing the debate was Chairman of the Coventry School Foundation board of governors Richard Atkins QC, who ably controlled the more passionate panel members and ensured every politician spoke for their allotted period of time without too many of the inevitable interruptions that are commonplace amongst eager politicians.

Representing the Labour Party was Siôn Simon, a member of almost 30 years and former MP for Erdington from 2001-2010. After stepping down from Parliament, he made a bid for Mayor of London, before moving on to be the top Labour candidate for the forthcoming European elections in May.

The Liberal Democrats were represented by Phil Bennion, a farmer from the region, who served as a councillor in Litchfield from 1999 to 2001. Turning his attention then to European Parliament, he was a candidate for the Lib Dems in the 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections, eventually being elected in 2009 as the second Liberal Democrat from the West Midlands.

Alex Avern, the Conservative representative, was significantly younger than her opposition at only 23 and already with 7 years' political experience, since she joined the party at only 16. She is currently a trainee accountant and is campaigning strongly for the Tories in her local area, the Black Country, whilst also being seventh on the party list of MEP candidates.

Representing the UK Independence Party was Phil Henrick, a multilingual account manager who chairs the party in his local Solihull and Meriden area.

There was also a former UKIP member, Mike Nattrass, who left the party in 2013, having been their main MEP representative since 2004.

After an initial five minute speech by each of the candidates outlining their reasons for why they should receive the vote of the audience registered to vote, the chair then took questions from the floor and debate between the politicians really began to heat up. Arguably the most entertaining part of the evening, this saw a delightfully outspoken Mike Nattrass argue passionately with each other candidate, even on matters he agreed with!

The topics covered were focused on the Eurpean Union, with much audience interest in the arguments for the UK's position within the EU in the future, and this invoked strong opinions at each end of the scale. Many candidates also gave particular emphasis to Britain's position within the world trade market, and how this position was likely to change if we were to leave the EU.

There was no clear 'winner' of the debate, nor was any of the representatives any less eager to present his or her views when the evening came to a close, but nonetheless the members of the audience left both much clearer on the politics of the EU and undoubtedly with a firmer idea on which party would receive their vote come the MEP elections on May 22nd.

It was a very enjoyable evening, with much praise from the audience afterwards, both for the politicians for giving up their time to come to Bablake for us to witness such an interesting debate and to Mr Seeley and the Political Society for organising the event. We hope a similar event will be repeated prior to the General Election in 2015!'