PUPILS at a York secondary school got a rare chance to grill both York MPs on the issues of the day.

York High School held a Big Issues debate on Friday morning and both York Central Labour MP, Rachael Maskell, and Conservative for York Outer, Julian Sturdy, came to debate whether the voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16.

The event was organised by Breno Duarte who runs the school debating team and the MPs were joined in the debate by two York High pupils, Beth Dowson and Oscar Dewire.

Students were then encouraged to ask questions from the floor, which ranged from Brexit and climate change to whether either MP had ambitions to be Prime Minister one day.

Rod Sims, Head of School, said both MPs had said they were really positive about the experience.

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Mr Sturdy, said: “I had a really enjoyable time visiting the school and taking part in this event, there was some really good questioning, and some difficult questioning.

"I was really impressed with what the students had to say and wanted to talk about.”

Ms Maskell said: “I really appreciated being able to talk to the students. There were some brilliant questions and we had a really in depth debate about young people having the ability to vote, about the future of our country, and about some of the big issues facing us and how young people can get involved in politics.

"I think we have real hope as a city and as a country if the kids of York High continue to speak up about the things that they care about.”

Mr Sims said: "The students at York High School really appreciated the opportunity offered by the MPs and many will have started to think how they will vote in the next election."

York High in Acomb is part of the South Bank Academy Trust which includes Millthorpe secondary and Knavesmire and Scarcroft primary schools.