Undoubtedly, the news of the week has been the election. No matter where you were in Britain on May 6th 2010, talk of who to vote for and the possibility of a ‘hung parliament’ can’t have been far. And this seems like an excruciating form of torture for those young people who care so deeply about the politics of this country and would like to be heard - so thank goodness for mock general elections!

Sutton High held it’s very own mock general election, with elected students standing as party leaders, spreading the word of their policies and vying for votes. The idea behind it was to raise awareness of the importance of politics, especially as these decisions will most certainly impact on us.

Six students from across the school vowed to lead us through these difficult times and these were representatives for the Green, Monster Raving Loony, UKIP, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. They too, like the country’s main party leaders, organised election campaigns in the run up to May 6th, allowing students to have open conversations with them debating party policies, creating posters and stickers encouraging people to vote for them and making announcements to the school explaining why a vote for them would be a worthwhile vote. Election excitement gripped the whole school as people debated and decided which party seemed most forward thinking for them.

Voting took place on May 6th at our very own polling station and the weeks of campaigning drew to a close. Turnout for our election was 75%, proving that when students know and understand what is going on, they too feel they have a right to be heard. For us at least, there was a clear win for the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Lettie Egan, with a grand total of 93 votes. It seems, within the grounds of Sutton High at least, young people want “a fresh start for Britain”. If only the real electorate were as decisive.