By James Langford – Deputy Chairman, Hereford CF

BBC Hereford and Worcester Debate @ Hereford Sixth Form College

This was a debate with first time voters at the Hereford Sixth Form College last Wednesday which I was invited to participate in as a student rather than a member and Officer of my local Conservative Future Branch. The official topic was the imminent European Elections – but we covered many others issues during the recording including the MPs expense scandal and unfortunate rise in BNP popularity.

From the outset when I saw the select crowd of 10 I knew this was going to be an interesting experience – I was the only Tory in the room. Now it must be made clear that our college is extraordinarily liberal and I don’t think this situation was deliberate at all. I was quite happy to fight alone…

The first issue was whether we and our companions intended to vote. Most students at the college really do care about the issues and so all agreed they would vote. Thereafter the questions focused on which issues were going to shape the way we voted – issues such as climate change were hurled out and it soon became apparent most of the participants were intending to vote green!

Then came the lambasting of MPs and the rotten system which has allowed valued Tax Payers money to be wasted. All were in disgust – and many felt they had lost faith in the so called “major” parties. This led nicely to the discussion on the value of UKIP and the BNP at this time. The college’s liberal attitudes shone through and these were dismissed as being unhelpful distractions in the forthcoming election – we were drawn back to the concept of voting green again.

Finally it was my turn: “I don’t think we can dismiss our so called major parties – in fact I believe the Conservative party will offer us real change when given the opportunity.” People smiled – they all knew what I was there to promote! After briefly mentioning the some of the biggest EU (Labour supported) failures including the dreaded Lisbon Treaty and pointless Working Time Directive I concluded by hammering home the point that we’ve all been making – now is the time to send a message to Brown. As far as I’m concerned he may not listen but that does not mean we should give up the fight!

Overall it turned out to be a very interesting debate! Having just seen the edited radio version it is not surprising to see that much of what I had to say did not make the final cut – although again much was edited out across the board of opinion. It’s always worthwhile taking part in these local events to promote the conservative message and it’s even more important at election time! The good fight continues…

See video and audio from the event here.

Image: BBC Hereford & Worcester

Related posts:

1. Young leaders debate – Wed 28th April