St Bart’s Goes to the Polls
As the rest of the country took to the polls, St Bart’s had its very own Mock Election, allowing students to have their say.
All of the parties that were running in Newbury were represented in our election (apart from the Freedom Alliance Party) with one candidate and someone to endorse them. The candidates were as follows: Ethan for the Conservatives, Arthur for the Greens, Amos for Labour, Harry for the Liberal Democrats, Freddie for Reform and Elis for UKIP.
All the candidates took part in the hustings, answering some tough questions from the crowd, such as questions about the economy, immigration and the environment. Following this they all gave a speech in each year group’s assembly where they all performed confidently and passionately (a few candidates in particular!). A sense of what the party stood for and how they would lead was effectively communicated, and it was really exciting for us to be able to experience this, as it will be another few years before some of us will be able to vote.
Finally, the day arrived. On 3 July, St Bart’s took to the polls! The polling station was set up in Patterson break out space and was as close as we could get (apart from needing voter ID) to the real thing. Casting my vote felt really important and I’m so grateful we got this opportunity. A massive thanks to Mrs Lane for organising this!
The results came in on Friday 5 July…
- The Green Party won the mock election by a landslide of just under a hundred, coming in at 177 votes.
- Then Labour and the Liberal Democrats were tied in second with 77 votes.
- UKIP came third with 75 votes.
- Reform got 41 votes.
- And in last place were the Conservatives with 29 votes.
It was really interesting where our student body placed their votes and how this compared to the rest of the UK. Hopefully this will become a St Bart’s tradition every time we have a general election. Turnout is so low among 18-24 year olds, and so I think it’s really important to show politics as relevant as early as we can. Hopefully the Mock Election will show people the numerous benefits of participating in politics.
Jemima Kerr (12P1)
