Tory and Labour Party Brexit leaders are quizzed by Oldham Sixth Form College students
Date published: 06 December 2019
Labour's Sir Kier Starmer with students and staff from Oldham Sixth Form College
Conservative Party Chairman, James Cleverly and Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, Sir Kier Starmer, faced questions from students yesterday, when they paid a special visit to Oldham Sixth Form College.
The visit by the two of them, on the same day, was controversial as James Cleverly recently had to defend allegations that a video of Sir Kier Starmer had been edited, to make it look like he couldn’t answer a question on Brexit.
Sir Kier explained the row to the sixth form students, which originated from an interview with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.
He told us: “I think we need to be careful to maintain standards of truth.
“I think you can have a ding dong, with anyone. But keep to the truth. I think it is pretty desperate to doctor a video.
“It shouldn’t have been done.”
Mr Cleverly has previously said that editing the video of Sir Kier, on his Brexit position, was: “Light hearted and a full version is available.”
The pair were quizzed on the NHS, education, housing, LGBTQ education in schools and other topics, that the sixteen to eighteen year olds were concerned about.
James Cleverly told students it was his job to help deliver Brexit, if the Tories win: “There are some big divides in politics now.
“In bigger cities, where people are younger and have degrees, they tended to vote ‘Remain’ in the EU Referendum.
“Whereas people who are older and tend to live in more urban areas, tended to vote ‘Leave’.”
“We can think of all sorts of issues as related to Brexit, but in reality there are other countries that deliver on these issues every day.”
It was the fourth time Sir Kier Starmer has visited Oldham, as he says; “I’m fascinated by the area.
“I find the community so uplifting and to be in the Sixth Form College was really uplifting.
“It’s great when you get questions from young people, as they’re always direct and engaging.”
He announced that Labour would prioritise ‘Regional Banks’, where local people could have a say on what money was spent on locally.
“The idea is to get rid of people in Westminster telling people what they will spend money on.
“People in Oldham would be able to say where money should be spent in Oldham.”
The Tories have announced a similar move, to ensure social inequalities are tackled.
James Cleverly said: “For too long London and the South of England has seen rising prosperity, where other areas have suffered.
“We would look to do much more to help places like Oldham.”
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