Students Join Forces For MP Meeting

Ipswich MP - Ben Gummer - agreed to meet up with learners from Suffolk New College and Suffolk One for an informal question time style debate.

The occasion took place at Suffolk New College in Ipswich. It was the first time that groups of students from Suffolk New College and Suffolk One had joined forces as they set about discussing matters affecting them with the Suffolk based MP.

Issues that were discussed included tuition fees, transport, the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and the British trident defence programme.

“I was delighted to attend this discussion,” said Gummer. “The students were very politically engaged and spoke passionately about issues affecting them."

“They are the next generation of business leaders and have every right to have their say.”

“I will be pursuing a number of the issues that were raised at the meeting and will be doing all I can to ensure that their voice is heard by the people that matter. Particularly on the proposed transport and EMA changes,” he added.

The president of Suffolk New College’s students’ union (Matthew Catchpole), and the Vice President of Suffolk One’s student union (Joanna Harris), issued a joint statement.

They said, “Students have received a lot of negative press recently because of the riots that occurred in London and whilst we recognise the right to protest, we only agree with protesting in a peaceful manner. Unfortunately the violence that was reported overshadowed the big issues relating to tuition fees and EMA, therefore we wanted to do something constructive.”

“We felt it was important to get our points across on these and many other issues via the means of a measured and constructive conversation with our local MP, and it was great to be able to meet Mr Gummer.”

“We are looking forward to building a strong long-term dialogue with him and we are hopeful that this meeting will be the first of many.”