- They Just Don’t Get It: The General Election Wasn’t About Leavers and Remainers
- Southampton Itchen: A Highly Contested Seat
- Interview: Stephen Galton: Conservative Candidate, Southampton Test
- Interview: Craig Fletcher, Liberal Democrat Candidate, Romsey And Southampton North
- How Can We Trust You?: Problems Of A Student Voter
- The Liberal Democrat Manifesto Simplified
- Jeremy Corbyn Signs Southampton UCU Petition
- Southampton Hustings: All You Need to Know
- Conservative Manifesto 2019: A Summary
- General Election 2019: Southampton & Winchester’s Constituencies
- Labour Manifesto 2019 – We Went Through It So You Don’t Have To
- Reasons (Not) to Vote
- SUSU Hustings: Southampton Test – Liveblog
- SUSU Hustings: Romsey and Southampton North – Liveblog
- Key Dates for Upcoming General Election 2019
- Wessex Scene Launches General Election 2019 Survey
- Southampton Debating Union General Election Student Debate: Liveblog
- Johnson vs Corbyn: BBC General Election Debate Liveblog
- SUSU Hustings: Southampton Itchen – Liveblog
- UK General Election To Occur On The 12th Of December
- Johnson vs Corbyn: ITV General Election Debate 2019 Liveblog
- Over 75 University of Southampton Students Turned Away From Polling Stations
- General Election 2019 Results – All-Nighter Liveblog
- General Election Student Attitudes Survey: The Results
Disclaimer: Wessex Scene is an apolitical publication with two chief objectives: to produce content that would be of interest to our student audience, and to give students a platform to share their views by contributing to our Opinion section. We have never endorsed or aligned ourselves with a particular political party, and never will. For more information, please click here.
Yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn visited Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium to announce the Labour Party’s Manifesto For The Environment. The Labour leader pledged that two billion trees will be planted by 2040 and ten new National Parks will be created if he is elected Prime Minister. Following the speech, Corbyn signed Southampton University and College Union’s (UCU) petition to protect staff pensions.
On Monday, UCU members at sixty universities began an eight-day strike in protest over the marketisation of higher education. Striking staff argue that workloads, working hours and stress have increased, whilst pay and pensions have declined. On Twitter, Southampton UCU responded to the Labour leader’s signature by asking whether any other 2019 General Election candidates will also stand in solidarity with them:
Thank you @jeremycorbyn for your support!! Are other #GE2019 candidates willing to support us too?#UCUStrikesBack #UCUstrikes https://t.co/69UkuFVYOA
— Southampton UCU (@SouthamptonUCU) November 28, 2019
During media questioning, Corbyn reiterated his commitment to the abolition of tuition fees, arguing that regardless of a student’s social background, education should be a universal right.
The Labour leader, who was joined on stage by local climate strikers, defended his pledge to plant 190 trees per minute by jokingly stating that: ‘it’s not going to be done by one person‘. Corbyn revealed that if he is elected Prime Minister he will plant a hornbeam tree, that was gifted to him by members of Extinction Rebellion, in Downing Street’s garden.