Vikki Slade MP visits Purbeck Sixth Form
It was our pleasure to welcome Vikki Slade back to The Purbeck School Sixth Form on 24th February to talk to us about her first few months of work in and outside parliament. Vikki has certainly been very busy as a constituent MP, representing a variety of issues including work to support the local environment, giving a strong voice to concerns about issues such as Wareham’s ground level rail crossing, and assisting constituents with matters such as gaining compensation after the Post Office scandal.
Following an informative presentation about her work in parliament, Vikki responded to the students’ own questions which included: ‘How can it be fair to charge students for whom it is mandatory to stay in education an expensive bus fare?’ [Vikki is going to raise this question in parliament after writing her own party’s policy for supporting funding in 2015/2017/2019]; ‘What are some of the changes that you would like to see in politics?’ [give the vote to 16/17 year olds; reform the House of Lords; change to proportional representation]; ‘What can be done about the ever-growing issues of potholes?’ [this is a funding issue but some money is being diverted from the abandoned HS2 plans; also – there are competing issues such as the defence budget]. Other questions related to student debt, supporting the local environment; the rise of extremism and issues surrounding AI.
Vikki ended by repeating her pledge to offer work experience in her office to Purbeck students, an opportunity that many are already pursuing. We look forward to her next visit, and also that of Labour’s Lloyd Hatton MP who will be in attendance at our Environmental Leaders presentation in collaboration with The National Trust on Friday 4th April.