Some CFers may want to get involved with this year’s Schools Question Time:

Schools Question Time is a Political Literacy and Citizenship Life Skills initiative supported by Parliament’s Education Service, the Institute for Citizenship and the BBC. The initiative is designed to provide a unique chance for young people to participate in activities which will encourage them to become active and informed citizens.

There are two strands to the initiative:

Schools Question Time Challenge – Applications for 2009/2010 are now open (until 15th November 2009)

• An opportunity to put on your own Question Time event at your school
• Learn about politics, Parliament and how to host a stimulating debate
• A chance to work with David Dimbleby and the Question Time team on the last programme of the series!

Schools Question Time Free Citizenship Resources – Available All Year Round

• Supporting the Citizenship curriculum and Political Literacy
• Helping improve students’ Citizenship Life Skills including enquiry, analysis, debating, opinion forming
• Engaging young people in society, politics and Parliament.

For more information visit the website here.

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Mock elections were held in schools across the United Kingdom on June 4th and today the results show the Conservatives gained 17 MEPs coming top, with Labour coming fourth, and the Liberal Democrats sixth.

Conservative Future has been working to support candidates in several schools and we are thrilled that so many young people got involved, and are taking an interest in politics.

Although these were only mock elections it once again shows a decisive win for the Conservative Party.

We look forward to seeing a similar result when Brown finally has the bottle to call a General Election.

The full results can be found here:

Conservative 17
Independent/Other* 15
Green 12
Labour 8
UKIP 7
Lib Dem 5
SNP 2
Sinn Fein 2
BNP 2
DUP 1
Monster Raving Loony 1

*Other constitutes parties that were created by students.

http://www.mockelections.co.uk/sections/England/Teachers/The%20Result!.asp

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Dominic McDonough, Sunderland CF Chairman, yesterday launched the ‘Youth Vote’ campaign in Sunderland.  The campaign which will be running throughout the Region will encourage young people to go out and vote in the European, Local and General elections.  Our campaign will take us into local schools, colleges and youth groups where we will emphasize the importance of voting as a young person and the links between voting and democracy.  Our aim is to try and instill the process of voting into young people so it becomes a habit that they will carry on into adulthood.  We will be discussing voting in general but of course will be communicating the Conservative message at the same time.

The launch today attracted the attention of the local media and a reporter joined us from the Sunderland Echo.  I will ensure to keep you all updated as to how this campaign is progressing.  Also, if you would like to join our campaign please feel free to contact either Dominic or myself.

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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

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Our friends at The Adam Smith Institute also put a strong focus on encouraging young people to become engaged within politics, as such, organise a varied program of events for students. Most recently launched is their essay competition, ‘Young Writer on Liberty 2009′:

To enter you will have to write three different articles on the subject of:

The Three Greatest Threats to Liberty in 21st Century Britain

The title of each article is entirely up to you.

1ST PRIZE:
- £500 cash prize
- 3 articles published on www.adamsmith.org/blog
- 3 books on the subject of liberty
- 2 weeks work experience at the ASI
- Invitation to the prize giving on our Summer Boat Party

2ND PRIZE:
- £250 cash prize
- 2 articles published on www.adamsmith.org/blog
- 2 books on the subject of liberty
- Invitation to the prize giving on our Summer Boat Party

3RD PRIZE:
- £100 cash prize
- 1 article published on www.adamsmith.org/blog
- 1 book on the subject of liberty
- Invitation to the prize giving on our Summer Boat Party

To enter:
- you have to be under 19 years of age at the time of entry.
- all articles must be under 400 words.
- the entry must reach us by the deadline of 15th June 2009

Please email andrew@adamsmith.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information

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On the same day we launch our Schools page I want to highlight a campaign that is trying to improve political education for young people:

kNow Vote

Young people learn algebra and atomic physics in school, but they are not even taught the basics about voting or the political system.

kNOw Vote is a campaign to raise awareness about this lack of political education. Britain’s future voters remain ignorant about even the fundamentals of party policy.

The campaign is in association with the Media School at Bournemouth University and Channel 4’s Battlefront. We intend to get young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four more informed about politics and voting. We will do this through an interactive website which is currently under construction, and hopefully, one day, through schooling. We want young adults to be provided with basic, impartial information about the political system, so that they can make informed decisions when it comes to voting.

We believe that voter apathy in the younger generations is not due to a lack of interest in political issues, but a lack of understanding. All too often you hear young people complaining that the three key parties are ‘all the same’, or that there is no choice. It is vital that our campaign highlights the differences between the parties, that we educate young people not about what the parties used to represent, as parents often do, but what they represent today. In addition we wish to teach young people about the plurality electoral system currently used here in the UK, to highlight both its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the simple practicalities of how and where to vote.

We want these things to be taught in school, even if it is for only one day per school year. Children learn very specialized disciplines in secondary schools, such as chemistry and woodwork, but are rarely taught even the basics about the political system or parties. Surely these are things which every citizen has a right to learn? We believe that informed voting is the cornerstone of any democracy.

At the very least, we want to make people aware of the fact that young people are leaving school and college with little or no political awareness. We are currently working on the educational website as well as campaign videos and several organized events [one of which is being covered by the local Bournemouth newspaper] and are gaining a following of members from most of the major cities around the country, including London.

http://knowvote.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93569471640

http://twitter.com/Knovote

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In just over 3 weeks there will be local and European elections on June 4th. There will also be mock elections taking place in schools across the United Kingdom. These elections are being organised by the Hansard Society, under the name Y Vote Mock Elections.

Today Conservative Future has launched a page on its website focusing on schools and these mock elections. This page has downloadable pamphlets and campaign tools, which will be useful to Conservative candidates standing in the elections.

This page has been put together by the Student Life Committee, whose role is to focus on Conservative Future members who are in full or part-time education.

We congratulate the Hansard Society for continuing to hold these mock elections, and wish all candidates taking part the best of luck.

Initiatives like these are incredibly important for both providing a political education, and building confidence for young people.

www.conservativefuture.com/schools

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