Democracy Day at Ravenscroft School

I was delighted yesterday to be invited to speak to Year 11 pupils at Ravenscroft School in Barnet. The school was having its "Democracy Day" and pupils were electing representatives to the new School Council. I was asked to speak to pupils about what it is like to be a candidate and how parties fight elections. I was also asked to offer some feedback to some of the pupils seeking election to the School Council. This was enjoyable and interesting and very well-run by the school. All the pupils' speeches were excellent and if Democracy Day gets these pupils interested in voting later in life, then that's terrific - bad people get elected when good people don't vote. Of course, the school had been fair and invited representatives of the other two main parties to participate, not just the Liberal Democrats.