News May 2019 final

PARISH ELECTION RESULTS
The Cotswold School News
Rhian Sneath and Tori Kennedy, both Year 9 students, visited Cirencester Leisure Centre to view the process
of counting the Parish Election votes. They had the opportunity to meet and interview several candidates, at
a time where there are great changes and movements within British politics. Below are their accounts and
articles of the afternoon. They were both a credit to The Cotswold School. Thank you to Bob McNally, CDC
Press Office, and Sarah Dalby for their warm welcome.
A Changing Cotswold Landscape by Rhian Sneath
On 2nd May, the Cotswold District Council and Parish Council elections took place along with 258 other councils in England. The outcome of the vote locally was a
massive swing to the Liberal Democrats, who for the first time in 16 years overturned a Conservative majority. Locally there are 34 Cotswold council seats: In the
end, the Liberal Democrats won 18 (up 8), the Conservatives won 14 (down 10) and there were two new councillors for the Green party and an Independent
candidate from Tetbury. Tony Berry, Head of the local Conservative party, acknowledged that it was a disappointing night for the party and blamed Brexit and
Theresa May for their results.
A significant issue that arose in these elections was the lack of young people using their democratic right to vote: In England, you can vote at the age of 18 and yet
only 50% of 18-34-year olds voted. Some had not registered to vote, and others cited that they did not understand what they were voting for and so did not vote.
Nigel Adams is the Cotswold Returning Officer, a job that oversees the registration process, postal voting service, setting up polling places (including staff) and
declaring the results for elections. He feels that we should be engaging more young people in politics and thinks that 16-year olds should be able to vote in local
polls as they can in Scotland. In fact, in some countries such as Austria and Brazil, 16-year olds can vote in national elections. We also spoke to Sabrina Poole, the
new Green party councillor in Cirencester, who felt that 13-year-olds should be given the vote, as most issues in politics are to do with changes that will impact on
their future and therefore we should be engaging those people whom it will affect the most. She also added that young people in her experience have the most
innovative ideas and she spends much of her time talking to young people through Guides, Scouts and schools.
The new cabinet and council leader for the Cotswold District Council is a young man called Joe Harris (26 years old). Joe was born in Cheltenham and grew up in
Cirencester attending Deer Park School. Joe was inspired to get into politics after a late-night assault that occurred in Cirencester when he was 18. The attack took
place in front of a CCTV camera, but he was shocked to discover that the District Council had cut the CCTV monitoring hours because of a lack of funds and
therefore it had not been filmed and no justice could be served. He felt so strongly about this that he got involved in local politics and campaigned for the CCTV to
be 24-hour to prevent crimes in Cirencester town. He has kept his promise, and in 2014 a 24-hour CCTV surveillance system was introduced in Cirencester which
he wants to extend to other towns within the Cotswolds.
He campaigns on a platform of crime prevention, period poverty, rural area transport, road management and sustainable development within the Cotswolds and
a few years ago at 23, he was elected Mayor of Cirencester, becoming the youngest Mayor in the UK.
As someone who has never spoken to a politician before, I can honestly say that having interviewed Joe Harris, I felt inspired to get involved with local politics. At
14, although I can’t vote, I am becoming aware and frustrated by the impact of political decisions on my future. Knowing that there is a 26-year-old heading up
our local council who is campaigning against The Cotswolds being turned into a national park, to ban single-use plastics in the council and to improve bus services
and rural transport systems for young people, is reassuring. It is a sad statistic that the average electoral candidate in the UK is 52, white and is most likely to be
called David. Funny as this may seem, you only have to look at what happened this week in Alabama to know what white, middle-aged men are capable of
imposing on a world where most of us strive to be inclusive and promote equality. If electoral candidates are too identical, with views that are several generations
behind ours, the decisions that are made for our district won’t necessarily be ones that will benefit the younger generation, who will have to live with them for
decades to come.
To make sure that your views count, make sure you can vote at 18 by encouraging your parents to put your name on the electoral register when you are 16
through the council tax form. You can also get involved in local politics by either getting involved in the count once you are 16 or simply going along to a meeting
of the local political parties, the details of which are all online. Thank you to Mrs Sewell, Mrs Hudson and Mrs Allison for making our trip happen and to the
Cotswold District Council and councillors for being so helpful in our interviews.
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