Labour in the lead: University of Sunderland students share their thoughts on the 2023 local elections
Written by Lucy Baker on 11th May 2023
Ahead of the recent local elections, I ventured into University of Sunderland’s St Peter’s campus to gain an insight into what knowledge students had on the elections. Also, to ask their opinion on the new requirement that all voters in England must bring some form of photo ID with them to the polling station in order to vote.
After interviewing two University of Sunderland students on the same day as the local elections, I found out they were both aware that there were local elections taking place that same day however, neither of them had voted in local elections before and were not registered to vote. Both students shared similar views on the new government rule that photo ID is now required for all voters in England in order to cast your vote. They expressed that they felt this was a negative thing and may put people off voting if they do not have a valid form of photo ID and have never had to worry about this before.
The local elections took place on Thursday May 4, 2023 and the results are now in for Sunderland City Council with the Labour party once again taking the lead. Sunderland City Council now consists of 45 Labour councillors, 15 liberal democrats, 13 Conservatives and one Reform UK.