More than fifty first year QE Politics students faced Labour’s candidate for Darlington, Lola McEvoy as she took a break from campaigning in the May local and mayoral elections for a session of questions and answers. Lola, herself a former QE Politics student, had to field questions on a wide range of topics, covering Labour’s approach to gender and trans rights, nationalisation of the railways, and why Conservative MPs are defecting to Labour.
Lola also talked about her own political career and how her Politics A-level had set her up for a career which has covered working for a charity, a trade union, and now sees her being adopted as Darlington’s Labour candidate for the forthcoming general election.
Eve Connor said of the session: “It was a great opportunity to find out exactly how a politician is campaigning on a day to day basis.” Lola also stayed behind at the end of the session to talk individually to students about issues such as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Summing up the session, Lily Seymour-Cross said “One of the most interesting things was getting an insight into Labour’s policy on online safety for young people and mental health. I think these things are really important”.
