Charlotte Cane MP visits Politics students
On Thursday 6th March we were pleased to meet with the newly elected MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, Charlotte Cane of the Liberal Democrats. Charlotte came to speak to a group consisting of both year 12 and year 13
A Level Politics students, and after outlining her life prior to Westminster and her work over the previous 8 months since her election victory, she took questions from the group.
Year 12 student Liza Petrychenko asked Charlotte for her views on the current situation regarding the US response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as for advice on how to become an MP herself. Year 13 student Lily Waterfield wondered whether Charlotte supported a reform of the system used for general elections in the UK whilst year 12 students Alexis Moore, Conor Runswick and Jasper Kyne asked questions relating to the atmosphere in the House of Commons, why Charlotte had chosen to stand for the Liberal Democrats and for her views on the recent proposals to introduce assisted dying for terminally ill adults into UK law.
Having first run for election in 1987, Charlotte was honest and open in response to the questions posed and spoke about her motivations to become an MP including her opposition to the Apartheid regime in South Africa and her concerns over environmental damage, specifically the man-made hole in the Ozone layer caused by CFC gasses. Talking with regard to her attendance at the historic second reading debate for the ‘assisted dying’ bill back in November 2024, Charlotte was frank about her feelings on the subject as well as about her ‘thrilling’ job in Westminster that just this past week, involved her asking a question to the Prime Minister over the government’s decision to cut the foreign aid budget to pay for increases in defence spending.
It is crucial that students always view the important role played by MPs in our system, and they will have gained a great deal from the talk hearing about the variety of jobs that the position involves outside of Parliament itself such as constituency work, visiting residential properties to view black mould in order to help tenants and representing a wide variety of people from agricultural workers to those employed in space technology.
Many thanks go to Charlotte and her team for helping to arrange this visit to meet with our students.
