Politics lesson for youngsters as county councillor visits village school near Lancaster

County Coun Lizzi Collinge, who is also standing to be the MP for the Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency, visited Nether Kellet Community Primary School to discuss politics with Sycamore and Beech classes.

Coun Collinge told the classes about the work of local councillors and Members of Parliament. She also covered cross-party committees and casework, explaining how the drama of Full Council or Prime Minister's Question Time masks the majority of political work which takes place in a calmer atmosphere and often across political parties.

The children, aged seven to 10, were asked what laws they would introduce. The classes eagerly debated ideas including action on littering, tax levels, wealth limits, owning second homes, reducing the price of food, looking after the environment, allowing people to vote at 16, and regulating genetic modification.

Coun Collinge said afterwards: "I was really impressed by the quality of questions and debate in the classes - the children were extremely smart and clearly had strong values that they wanted to see in our laws.

"We discussed why people joined political parties and why there are different political groups. We also talked about how councillors of all parties work hard for their communities and that people become councillors because they want to help. We also discussed respect for different opinions and how to debate ideas in a positive way."

The classes also looked at photographs of the county council chambers and learned about the process of running the council, how voting works, and campaigning for election.

Coun Collinge, who lives in Heysham with her husband and two children, was selected to stand as the Labour candidate in Morecambe and Lunesdale in September 2023.

The new Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency comprises most of the former Morecambe and Lunesdale merged with segments from the former Westmorland and Lonsdale and Lancaster and Fleetwood constituencies.

A project manager by trade, Coun Collinge was first elected in 2016.

She is now deputy chair of Lancashire Health and Adult Services Scrutiny Committee as well as Lancashire Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.