Two Politics students, Josh Nicholson and Calvin Winstanley, took part in the British Council's Mock EU event, at Church House, Westminster. Representing Estonia, their task was to negotiate on behalf of their country in a model of the real EU. They worked well with other Baltic states, firming effective partnerships, and were able to influence the debates despite their small size.

The mock EU Council mirrors the debates that take place in the real Council of Ministers. This year's event was the first since the Brexit referendum and therefore the debates took place on a backdrop of Britain's exit from the Union. Josh was responsible for the negotiations on Britain's continued membership of the Erasmus+ programme, whilst Calvin discussed the future of the European Arrest Warrant. During the plenary Calvin was described as 'exceptionally lucid' by the chairman who also said that ‘Josh was instrumental in clarifying the potential 'partner status' of the UK’.  

Nathan Scott, Curriculum Manager for Politics, described the event as 'inspiring': "The wonderful thing about this event is that is really mirrors the actual negotiations that take place at the European level. The quality of debate and research was simply superb". 

Jackie Minor, Head of the European Commission in the UK speculated that perhaps these students "might be the first people to realise what Brexit actually means".