Two local Tory MPs recently formed up as a team in order to take part in the debate on Britain’s membership of the European Union which took place at South East Essex Sixth Form College (SEEVIC).
Rebecca Harris, Tory MP for Castle Point and Mark Francois, Tory MP for Rayleigh and Wickford (and a former Shadow Europe Minister) took part in the debate on behalf of the Vote Leave Campaign and they were up against Dominic Ellis, who is the Green Candidate who fought Rebecca Harris at the General Election and Sandy Martin, a former Labour MEP Candidate in the East of England. Conservative activist Ahmad Khwaja, from Southend, made up the remaining member of the panel to offer his own view on the Brexit issue.
The debate was conducted in front of around 100 students from the college, using a question time style format, with the college Principal, Mr Nick Spenceley, ably performing the role of David Dimbleby. The questions stretched across a wide range of subjects including British sovereignty, security issues, trade and the movement of people across the EU. A number of questions were raised from the audience in order to provoke answers from the panel.
Speaking about his experience, Mark Francois said:
“The referendum represents the first time in over 40 years that the British people will be able to have a direct say on Europe and I hope that as many people as possible will take part. I envisage that in the run up to the referendum there will be many such debates of this type across the country and I would like to commend Seevic on how very well organised the debate was. It was a pleasure to debate alongside my Conservative colleague, Rebecca Harris on this important subject. I hope the students benefited from listening to the questions and I will continue to debate these issues in the run up to the referendum on June 23rd.”