Visit from Lord Haskel

​Esher College hosted a talk from a member of the House of Lords on (Friday) to encourage students to become more engaged with the political and parliamentary process.  Lord Haskel, Labour Life Peer, met with more than 120 sixth form Politics students for an hour to talk about the role, the powers and the composition of the House of Lords.  While Lord Haskel was keen to discuss parliamentary work and procedures, the animated group of students insisted on asking question about the state of the Labour Party in the aftermath of the recent leadership challenge. Critical questions were also asked about the representativeness of the Lords and its unelected members.

Declan Mason – teacher of Politics at Esher College said, "This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to interact with someone who knows the parliamentary system inside out, as it can sometimes seem far removed from their daily lives."

The visit was arranged through the Lord Speaker’s "Peers in Schools" programme, which has been running across the UK since 2007 and has so far involved around 75,000 young people.  This continuing outreach programme sends members of the House of Lords into schools/academies and colleges across the country to give talks in support of the citizenship curriculum.