Dan Norris says he was “put through his paces” by Oldland Common students during a ‘Meet The Metro Mayor’ Q&A session.
The Mayor was invited to Sir Bernard Lovell Academy for a tour of the school, and to speak with students about the role of his West of England Mayoral Combined Authority and devolution.
He said the well-informed young people, some of whom explained how they recently got to visit Parliament, asked him “insightful” questions including on what the Mayoral Combined Authority is doing to tackle the climate crisis – as well as votes for under-18s!
The session also touched on the work the Mayor is doing to provide the region’s young people with opportunities to influence regional policy through the first-ever West of England Schools Summit.
Mr Norris said it had been a “really good” afternoon’s discussion and that he enjoyed engaging with sixth form students because they were beginning to get interested in politics. He said: “I really enjoyed my opportunity to answer some tough but fair questions from really engaged young people from across Oldland Common about what it means to be their Metro Mayor. The young people there gave me a good grilling and came up with some great ideas – including on what my Mayoral Combined Authority needs to do to get people into good, skilled jobs and other areas. It just goes to show how vital it is that we get more of our young people involved in our democracy – the whole point of my Schools Summit! It certainly It looks like the future of politics in Oldland Common is in very good hands.”