Election Interviews – Giles Lennox
Over the course of the last week, I had the chance to interview most of the candidates for the RHS general election. With the hustings on Tuesday, it was a great chance to gain some insight into the parties. This article will show a few questions from each candidate to start to get you thinking about which party best represents your views!
Rupert Todd, Brexit Party
How would you respond to claims that you are a one problem party? – We are. At the end of the day, Brexit does appear to be only issue of every party. In this election, the only policy that really matters is the policy of Brexit. The Lib Dems are a simple ‘No’, Labour’s is a second referendum, the Tories’ option is a soft deal. This party believes in a hard deal or a hard Brexit.
So, what do you do after Brexit is all done, and you become a bit redundant? – We solve Brexit, leave the EU and then go to a general election and let the will of the people decide what the best course of action.
How will Brexit affect the mighty institution of RHS? – The only real affect will be felt by those European students. We have no plan to ship Dimas or any other foreign student home, but we simply request that they follow the same term as the Chinese students who study at this school.
Esme Peters, Liberal Democrats
One of the policies you have mentioned is wanting to stop Brexit all together, don’t you feel this would be entirely undemocratic given that the people voted to leave? – I do not because at the time, the people did not have all the tools at their disposal to make an informed decision and I believe that for the country, Brexit is a tragedy in the making. As parliament, it is our job to save the people from such a big mistake
You also mention your desire to act against climate change. Financially, will this be at the cost of any other services in the UK? – By stopping Brexit, the economy will rise, and I guarantee a £50 billion remain bonus and will put £1 billion into climate change every year. This will come from a growing GDP due to remaining in the European Union.
Overall, how will you policies impact those inside the ‘RHS Bubble’? – Well, let me tell you! I am the only sensible candidate by investing a lot of our budget into climate change, an issue that concerns many young people. Also, I plan to tackle mental health more firmly than other parties; building a more positive future for the students of RHS
Harvey Crallan, Labour
What is your main policy for this election? – Creating a fair, stable economy through fair taxation and an increase in taxation for the top 5% of earners. This can then be spent on public services and other areas that need addressing. Also, stopping the rich from creating tax loopholes and evasion and really standing against the gender pay gap.
You talk about inequality within society, what about the shocking reports of anti-Semitism in your party? – It’s all a matter of interpretation, in the Labour party, we don’t discriminate against anyone. Furthermore, I’ve heard things about a certain member of the Brexit party paying people off, so we’ll see.
How will your policies benefit or hinder the Royal Hospital School? – For the better, first off there’ll be no Saturday schools which I am sure many people will be able to get behind. [Funny you should say that because there are reports that you would scrap private schools altogether!] Well I’ll leave that one for the hustling on Tuesday!
Josie Ruffles, Green Party
What is the biggest issue in the UK today and how would you try to fix it? – The biggest issue is the voting system. As a forward-thinking party, we think FPTP is undemocratic as it only helps the two biggest parties. We would like to move to Proportional Representation because it would make parliament and even parties more democratic.
In the 2017 election, you gained only 1.6% of the seats, how do you plan to gain more votes? – We are planning on 3 main issues: tackling environmental threats, making the UK more democratic through a new voting system and lowering the voting age to 16. We want younger voters to engage more in politics.
How will the policies of the Greens impact RHS? – In a good way! Currently, many young people are not engaged with politics in general, even Year 13s! If people became a bit more educated on politics in general, using our change of voting age, people will become far more interested. Also, our stance on the environment would work with initiatives like those of the Green Committee.
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