It was a pleasure to meet sixth form students at Sunderland College today. We had a lively discussion on current political issues such as the NHS, mental health, Brexit, as well as the ongoing ‘Fair Vote’ campaign from the Association of Colleges calling for the UK voting age to be lowered to 16.

Young people’s political participation and representation is crucial for the future of our democracy. Meeting these bright and well engaged students today only reinforced my opinion.

Thank you to all staff who made this visit possible and the students for the discussion.