The election event at The Cass covered a wide range of issues including Brexit, social mobility, student mental health, climate change and the obesity crisis.
Date: 06/12/2019
Students, staff and members of the local community had the chance to put their questions to candidates standing for parliament in Bethnal Green and Bow at a husting event at The Cass last night.
London Met's Students' Union invited representatives from the five nationally represented parties standing in the constituency took part in the event which was chaired by Dr Zainab Khan, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Attainment, Equity and Inclusion and is the only husting being held in this general election event.
Rushanara Ali (Labour Party), Shahrar Ali (Green Party), David Axe (Brexit Party), Josh Barbarinde (Liberal Democrats), Nicholas Stovold (Conservative Party) spoke from the panel, and Animal Welfare Party candidate Vanessa Hudson from the floor, on a wide range of issues including Brexit, social mobility, student mental health, climate change and the obesity crisis.
In her opening remark, Zainab reminded the audience of the University’s role in the community: “It is an exciting time here at London Met – we’ve recently launched our new strategy, which makes a renewed commitment to our city and our ways of working with community partners.
“We seek to support our community partners to address some of the pressing issues facing our boroughs and the city. And we see our students as agents of change – our programmes of study develop their critical understanding of complex societal challenges as well as provide them with opportunities to give back to the city.”
Diini Muse, President of London Met's Students' Union who asked one of the first questions from the floor, said: "We were delighted to organise this election husting. Many London students live close to where they study so this was a great opportunity for them to become involved in a debate about the issues that concern their day-to-day lives. It was a brilliant learning opportunity for students to participate in a live hustings and meet with members of the local community."
