Forty first year students recently travelled to London to visit the Houses of Parliament to unravel the workings of this historic landmark and gain a deeper insight into the UK’s voting systems.

We kicked the trip off by taking a tour around the area near Westminster, visiting places such as the famous Portcullis House in which our country's MP's have their offices and travel underground to and from the Palace of Westminster.  We also explored Parliament Square where the statues of many great leaders such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi stand alongside the new addition of Millicent Fawcett, a suffragist who campaigned for womens’ right to vote.

The next stop on our trip was the Supreme Court, where we learned lots of interesting facts about the UK’s final Court of Appeal.  We were lucky enough to be there on the day that the judgement of the Ashers Bakery case was given, which was an exciting experience for all of us.  Our visit concluded with a quick sit in the Judges’ chairs (but not the middle one!).

Finally we went into Parliament and were provided with some fascinating insights into the history of the building, and the two Houses, whilst walking along the many passages and winding staircases.  We got the chance to sit in the House of Commons and experienced a live debate on the Agriculture Bill, where we saw a number of debating techniques being used.  We also attended a workshop, where we created our own Parties and held an election, intended to highlight the variation in results when using the different voting systems.  We were also very grateful to meet Leo Docherty, MP for Aldershot, who answered our questions about Chequers, university fees and much more.

Overall, the trip was an exciting and informative day and we left with lots more knowledge of UK democracy!

Written by students Ally Amaro and Rhys Chant