This week saw Emma not only promoted to Speaker of the House, but also take part in numerous question time events too as part of a busy week in her South Shields constituency where local schools really embraced this year’s Parliament Week.
Emma was inundated with requests from local schools to pay them a visit during the week, which aims to inspire children and young adults to explore politics and understand the work of their local MP. Emma was lucky enough to visit Westoe Crown where she was selected as Speaker of the House and presided over the debate as to whether the school should have an extra break time. Sadly for the pupils the no’s to the left won on this occasion. Later in the week was a question and answer session with Mortimer Secondary School, where Emma answered questions on topics ranging from Syria, to the current school curriculum. The last stop in the week saw Emma take part in Whitburn Primary School’s question time. Which saw year 5 give Emma a grilling over her role as an MP.
Emma said “This year’s Parliament Week has been the best yet in my constituency. The events that schools organised and the enthusiasm of the children was just fantastic. It is a great honour to speak at these schools and hopefully inspire children when it comes to politics and voting in later life. The knowledge of the children has been astounding and their behaviour far better than that of MPs in the Chamber! Children meeting their MP really opens their knowledge base and allows them to understand my role and realise that we aren’t just people they sometimes see on the news, but a real person who they can hopefully relate to and share their views with.”
