Society Spotlight: Labour Society

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The Southampton University Labour Society (SULS) is the political society on campus representing students who align with the values of the Labour Party at both the University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University. We have meetings every Monday at 6:30 pm, usually in Building 58.

Our meetings cover a range of important issues such as climate change, where we have hosted speakers from Extinction Rebellion, Sweatshop Free, and People and Planet. This is very successful as they can give different perspectives, greater awareness, and useful campaigning skills. It’s also a great way for Southampton students to get involved in national debates and demonstrations! The committee delivers meetings which are centred around what Labour means for students and what we can do, particularly as student politics is so important in today’s society. We have also held discussions on topics like Universal Basic Income and anti-Semitism where external speakers and experts made the meetings even more interesting.

The Labour Party is a central focus for our meetings and local councillors or representatives from the national party come regularly to discuss themes both local and national. Maintaining local links is really important so we always help out the party with door-knocking, the local elections, and community workshops like Southampton Transformed. This is where we can have a direct impact and talk to the Southampton community about what Labour can do for them.

Last year our society introduced liberation meetings which occur once a fortnight. These are designed to be a safe space to improve awareness and campaigning considering specific social issues. Previous meetings have included women’s rights, sexual consent awareness, Neurodiversity, climate change, and LGBT+ rights. We like to bring in speakers to show different perspectives and provide first-hand accounts.

Finally, there are loads of fun socials we put on throughout the academic year like the PMQs Drinking Game where we watch PMQs and drink if certain things happen, like if Bercow shouts “order”! We also do loads of movie nights and BBQs which are always fun. Our tradition is that we always go to the pub after meetings! Any social suggestions are also welcome!

The committee this year are Joel Jordan (President), Parth Pandya (Vice-President and Welfare & Equity Officer), Elliot Alexander (Treasurer), Tori Crawshaw (Secretary), Patrick Lowe (Liberation Officer) and Jack Gilpin (Social Secretary). We would all be open to any suggestions you guys may have!

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