To whom it may concern,
With the local elections on the horizon I'm writing on behalf of Keele students to make you aware of the issues that are most pertinent to them.
Keele University has over ten thousand students and most of those live in Newcastle Under Lyme, they are your potential voters. Keele Students' Union is an independent charity that exists to represent these students and campaign to represent their interests.
The general election saw unprecedented levels of youth turnout, even with the lower levels of engagement in local elections it would not take much for the student vote to have a massive impact on the results.
For the first time ever, KeeleSU is launching 'student pledges', which we are inviting every candidate in every seat to sign up to. We will be publishing a list of the candidates who sign up to these pledges and provide a photo opportunity for those who would like one.
These pledges have been established through research throughout the academic year and consultation with the students themselves. The pledges are as follows:
- A Newcastle that improves public transport
- A Newcastle that priorities mental health support
- A Newcastle that ensures renters are fairly treated
Alongside these pledges we have produced a report (click here to read it), this digs into the detail of why we think these are important issues and provides a few recommendations. To be clear, signing the pledges is not about pledging to implement our recommendations, the recommendations are there to illustrate how we think these might be addressed.
All we are looking for is for candidates to pledge to engage constructively with these issues and treat them with the seriousness that we believe they merit.
If you or anyone you know are interested in coming down to sign this pledge or have any questions about this please do get in touch with me via email at su.uddofficer@keele.ac.uk
Thanks,
Tom Snape
KeeleSU Union Development and Democracy Officer
Chair of KeeleSU Trustee Committee