STUDENTS at a Teignbridge school were the only people to be able to quiz the candidates for the Newton Abbot parliamentary seat at a hustings debate.

Teignmouth Community School hosted the hustings to give its students a chance to question the candidates and learn more about the democratic process. 

When the General Election was announced, school leaders recognised this was a chance to engage its students with the political process. 

Within 24 hours, the process of organising a parallel election for students was started. 

Former councillor Alison Eden volunteered to organise a political hustings event, the only one taking place in the constituency for candidates.

The event was attended by five of the eight candidates for the Newton Abbot constituency: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrats), Jacob Cousens (Labour), Anne Marie Morris (Conservative), Liam Mullone (South Devon Alliance), and Pauline Wynter (Green Party). 

After a strict two-minute introduction from each candidate, the students began the questioning.

Students asked some challenging questions. 

Sadie Davies (Year 12) challenged the candidates to state how they were planning to support young people with access to university, while Kaden Perryman (Year 10) wanted to know about plans to improve the chances of young people getting on the housing ladder.

PSHE Lead, Sarah Alecock said: ‘I was overjoyed when we started getting responses from our parliamentary candidates that they would attend. 

‘This has been a great way to let our young people know that they have a voice and that voice should be heard.’

Rachel Wickham, the headteacher, said: ‘Our students were exemplary during this event. They challenged the candidates with some great questions. As a result, they learned an enormous amount about the democratic process and the key issues being discussed during the General Election Campaign.’