Speakers for Schools Live

Who cares about politics?

Pupils from more than 200 schools around the country are to get the chance to take part in a special live-streaming election debate.

Starting today at 11am, education charity Speakers for Schools, which is endorsed by the i Paper, launches a new campaign by hosting a Question Time-styled event, beamed out to a live audience at state secondary schools.

Exclusive research, published in the i Paper today and only two months ahead of the 2015 General Election, reveals that far from young people being apathetic about politics, three-quarters of British 16-18 year olds think the current political system needs to be changed to ‘Better reflect society today.’

The report by Speakers for Schools with research undertaken by pollsters YouGov found two-thirds of young voters support the introduction of online or mobile voting and 80 per cent want a more engaging and interactive Prime Minister’s questions.

Today a distinguished panel of guests including Brie Rogers Lowery, UK CEO of Change.org; Elizabeth Linder Head of Politics & Government Facebook EMEA; John Pienaar, BBC5 Live, Chief Political Correspondent and Harry Lambert, Founder/Editor of May2015.com, will discuss topics such as ‘what do students think should be top priority for politicians now and in the future?’ and ‘Should you be able to vote via text? Before you're 18?’

The two week campaign will start using the Twitter hashtag #S4SNextGen and over 30 leading public figures – including broadcasters, politicians, journalists and business leaders will deliver talks to call on young people to vote.

Click on the link above to watch the debate and take part.