On 26th March, our Year 12 and 13 Politics students undertook a virtual ‘Learn with the Lords’ live Q&A session where they had the opportunity to pose their questions to Lord Haselhurst, Member of the House of Lords.

By engaging in this way, students were able to develop a further understanding of the role and function of the House of Lords within the UK Parliament in line with their curriculum work. Students’ questions ranged from the potential for reformation in the House of Lords, to the nature of democracy in the UK, to Brexit.

Commenting, Ben L, Year 12 said, “I valued the opportunity to pose questions to Lord Haselhurst because it helped to give context to some of our current studies. It felt as though he wasn’t intent on giving a ‘politician’s answer’ to our questions, and answered everything with consideration and honesty.

“I was particularly interested in his responses to our questions around whether the Lords’ and Baronesses’ unelected roles are an infringement upon UK democracy (he talked about the balance provided by the House of Commons and House of Lords) and also his opinion about the adaptability of the UK justice system.

“Lord Haselhurst’s views were particularly insightful because he has also served as a Conservative MP (for Middleton and Prestwich 1970-74, and Saffron Walden 1977- 2017), so could also provide a House of Commons (and Committee) perspective.”

We would like to thank Lord Haselhurst for giving up his valuable time to challenge and engage our students so that they could put some real life context to their studies.

Mr Carpenter