The first Presidential debate in Wales…
With just four weeks to go until Annual Conference it felt like the campaign really began this weekend as I was invited to take part in a Presidential Debate at the NUS Wales Annual Conference in Llandrindod Wells in mid Wales.
All four candidates for NUS National President were invited. Two sent apologies, leaving a head to head debate between myself and Ciarán Norris. I really enjoyed the debate - a great warm up for the informal hustings which will be held on the first night of Annual Conference in Blackpool on 1st April. We took a range of questions across a variety of issues including support for the NUS nations, our personal political views, education funding, the Welsh language and our priorities. At the end of the conference we also took part in a Whose Line Is It Anyway-style roleplay where I played the driver of a broken down ‘car of NUS democracy’ and Ciarán was the AA man sent to identify the problems. It was good fun and we managed to get in some pretty cringe-worthy lines about the ‘lack of transparency’ with the car windows, faulty breaks preventing the car moving forward and Ciarán’s line about the steering always veering to the left! You had to be there I guess!
Throughout my time as a student activist and NEC member I have always supported the work and campaigns of the NUS nations. For example, as President of my students’ union I supported calls to move the National Demonstration to Cardiff to stop top-up fees in Wales and took one of the largest contingents to the demo in 2004. I was the only presidential candidate to attend either the NUS-USI demo outside the Stormont Assembly in Belfast last term or the ‘Drenched in Debt’ demo outside the Welsh Assembly (despite the best efforts of Railtrack to stop me getting there at all!). Recently, I started a new series of Education Information bulletins that contain information relevant to officers across the whole UK and called for an independent complaints adjudicator for Northern Ireland to support the work currently being undertaken by NUS-USI on this.
Some people think that NUS should only hold demonstrations in London - I say we should hold them wherever you need us to be! I am conscious that unions and associations outside England often feel distant from the work of NUS UK. As National President, I will support the nations, whilst respecting their autonomy.
Finally, I couldn’t end this blog without offering my congratulations to Ben Gray and Carl Harris, who were re-elected this weekend as President and Deputy President respectively of UCMC/NUS Wales as well as Gurjit Singh and Liam Burns who were elected as President and Depute President of NUS Scotland.
It’s no secret that I hoped to see my longstanding friend and colleague Josh MacAlister elected as Scottish President. Josh is a dedicated campaigner for students’ rights and has been since I first met him when he played a leading role in getting Edinburgh University Students’ Association affiliated to NUS a few years ago. I’m sorry that NUS Scotland will not benefit from his experience, dedication and passion, but I know that as National President I will be able to work with all those elected to take forward that which unites us: a steely determination to defend and extend the rights of students.
Finally, congratulations also to Jo Roberts, Sarah Watson, Jill Little and James Alexander whose terms come to an end this year!
Wes