Labour Wins Election at Rydal Penrhos

Ben Gibson led the Labour party to victory at Rydal Penrhos School, stating, ‘selling socialism to a public school, it wasn’t the outcome I expected at all’.

Some of them may be too young to vote in the general election, but that didn’t stop pupils at Rydal Penrhos School from having their say.

The Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National and Plaid Cymru parties were all represented in the co-ed day and boarding school’s mock election.

After weeks of campaign, head of sixth form Pete Lavery, revealed that the Labour Party had won. The party, led by Benjamin Gibson, emerged victorious with 68 votes, narrowly beating out the Conservatives, led by Olivia Rogerson’s, who finished second on 44.

Plaid Cymru, headed by Llywelyn Cowell, came in third with a total of 26 votes, while head girl Olivia Williams’ Liberal Democrats were fourth with 21 ballots.

Rounding off the list was the Matthew Trumper-led Scottish National Party, who finished in fifth with 20 votes.

Mr Lavery, who had the privilege of revealing the results to the whole school, stated that 187 votes had been cast, which was a 75 per cent turnout.

Labour win

Following the announcement, lower sixth pupil Ben delivered his acceptance speech, where he thanked the other candidates for their efforts and Mr Lavery for his ‘untold enthusiasm’ towards the project.

Deputy head Tim Cashell, said: ‘This was something that really gripped every pupil and staff member at Rydal Penrhos, which was down to the commitment from each party to get their message across.

‘Congratulations go to the Labour Party and Ben Gibson on their victory, but also to all other campaigners for bringing politics to the forefront of the school at a very significant time.’

Ben stated that he was ‘very pleased with the result’ in his first interview after the results had been announced. Speaking about the mock election’s effect on the younger pupils, he said he hoped it helped them to make an ‘increasingly important’ choice.

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