RORY CELEBRATES ‘PARLIAMENT WEEK’ WITH APPLEBY SIXTH-FORMERS

Parliament Week, coordinated by the House of Commons with support from the House of Lords, was celebrated by MP Rory Stewart in an informal discussion about local and national politics with a group of sixth form students at Appleby Grammar School last week, part of a programme of events and activities designed to connect people with Parliament and democracy in the UK.

Students joined Rory after school to ask him a range of questions. Rory chose to mark the week by meeting the sixth formers for a relaxed chat about their views on politics, which included talking about the government’s policy on reducing the deficit, the difficulties of balancing competing policy objectives, the challenges of a rural community, and a debate on the merits of Jeremy Corbyn.

Rory said “I​ always really enjoy hearing from young people about their views on national policies. It gives me a real feel for the issues that concern young people. Appleby Grammar School’s sixth-formers are clearly a bright, engaged and politicised group, which is wonderful to see. It made me feel positive about the future of politics. I enjoyed getting involved in Parliament Week​ in this way, helping to ​r​aise awareness about the value of engaging with democracy and Parliament and, more importantly, the ways people can do this. Politics is not just about Westminster, and Parliament Week ​is ​one way of highlighting ​why politics matters ​to each and every one of us.”