ECO concerns dominated when junior parliamentarians from Northwich Parliament quizzed their grown-up equivalent in Westminster.

Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury was guest of honour at the online event organised by Northwich Education Partnership involving several primary schools in his constituency.

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Topics ranged from tackling flooding, reducing packaging and plastic use, increasing recycling, moving towards renewable energy and taking personal responsibility around not littering.

Mr Amesbury, who had received letters from many of the children, said: “We’ve got a climate emergency and I notice one of the schools here has experienced that in quite a stark way.”

Northwich Guardian: Hartford Manor Primary School junior parliamentarians Maisie and Leo taking part in the virtual event on Zoom.

Hartford Manor Primary School junior parliamentarians Maisie and Leo taking part in the virtual event on Zoom.

Addressing pupils from Witton Church Walk CE Primary School, the MP continued: “You are now back in your school but you were recently flooded and we’re going to see more and more of that, so we’ve got to get things right.”

Mr Amesbury was also questioned over his recent law to slash the cost of school uniforms, the possibility of Scotland leaving the UK, about HS2 and the homeless, the need for infrastructure to support new housing and funding challenges facing grass roots football.

There were also some shocked faces in the young audience when he admitted he was a Manchester United fan.

Asked why he wanted to be a Labour politician, Mr Amesbury explained: “I joined the Labour Party when I was 17.

"I was 52 on local election day on May 6.

"I joined because that political party just fitted my beliefs more than other political parties, such as I want a fairer society and a fairer world.”

The MP concluded: “This has been a real honour and a pleasure. Its been the highlight of my week as well, I can genuinely say that - fantastic questions, challenging questions - more difficult than I get in Parliament!”

Other participating primary schools included Sandiway, Weaverham Forest, Hartford Manor, Little Leigh, Leftwich, Lostock Gralam,Cuddington, Kingsmead, Winnington Park, Charles Darwin, Whitegate, Davenham and St Bede’s.

Co-organiser Chris Priddey, headteacher of Sandiway Primary School, said: “The schools were all very proud of the high levels of knowledge and confidence of the children who took part.”

Northwich Guardian: Tom and Maia from Kingsmead Primary School.

Tom and Maia from Kingsmead Primary School.

Tom and Maia, who represent their school Kingsmead as members of Northwich's Junior Parliament, also spoke about their experience in quizzing their local MP.

They said: "We asked about his private members bill for school uniform because we’re going to High School and uniforms will be really expensive (over £110).

"Mike’s Bill which became law last Friday (we fact checked on his news page) will mean that more school uniform can be sold at supermarkets and clothes shops instead of just selected buyers.

"People asked a lot about the flooding in Northwich and Witton Church Walk.

"We also asked about landfill, recycling and food waste.

"We asked how he became an MP.

"He told us he first started getting interested in politics around 16, 17.

"We also asked about Scotland leaving the UK. Mike said he didn’t want them to leave and teamwork was better than standing alone.

"It was interesting; we got to see how schools were into cleaning up the planet and environment, others were focussed more on humankind.

"We think we’ll keep more up to date with politics after our experience but we don’t think we want to be full time politicians.

"Thank you to Mr Erne and Mr Priddey, headteachers in our partnership for pulling together a very engaged group of young politicians."