Haileybury hosts lively local politics discussion

Last week, pupils at Haileybury had the opportunity to meet their public representatives at an event organised by the Political Society. In attendance were County Councillor for Ware South, Nigel Copping (who also doubles as the current Chairman of the East Hertfordshire District Council), and Hertford and Stortford MP, Mark Prisk.

Mr Copping detailed examples of how he has helped out the local community over the many years of his involvement, ranging from planning applications to the extraction of gravel pits. He said his primary concern was making a difference locally, rather than pushing an overtly political agenda. As an unpaid public representative, he felt that it was getting increasingly difficult to find suitable younger people to stand for such offices in elections.

In a stirring address punctuated by examples of current issues, Mr Prisk said that an MP had no one specific job, but that he was a legislator, a scrutiniser of government action, a social worker and a representative of ordinary people, in addition to being a party representative and that an MP always had to put his country first, then his constituency and then his party.

Head of Politics, Michael Perrins, says a lively question and answer session followed the addresses and the pupil committee then entertained the guest speakers to dinner in the Haileybury Cricket pavilion.