Students at Stratford Girls' Grammar grill Nadhim Zahawi, as he confirms he will make election stand
NADHIM Zahawi will stand again to be the area’s MP at the next general election, he confirmed this week.
That was despite the tough questioning he was given by students at Stratford Girls’ Grammar School on Friday (2nd December) and the backlash he provoked from union bosses after asking about the ethics of planned strike action.
During a scheduled visit to SGGS, Mr Zahawi – chairman of the Conservative Party – met more than 40 students in the new school library.
Eshani Sharma, a Year 13 student, said: “There were several pertinent questions asked by students, covering a range of topics, with the first question simply: ‘After over 12 years in power, what is the Conservative Party’s greatest achievement?’”
Mr Zahawi declared his greatest achievement as being the minister in charge of the Covid vaccine roll-out, explaining how it eventually became his pathway to the cabinet.
He said: “I think that will reflect as the greatest achievement of my career.” The rollout, which began two years ago this week, was lauded by former prime minister Boris Johnson for being “the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe”.
Mr Zahawi then went on to answer, in his opinion, the Conservative Party’s greatest achievement was the “right decisions made in 2010”. He praised the David Cameron coalition government’s decision to shrink the size of the public sector in order to put the country’s finances on a “solid footing”. He argued it was only because of George Osborne’s austerity that Rishi Sunak, as chancellor, could support people financially through Covid lockdowns with furlough payments and grants.
In response, students asked how Mr Zahawi felt about Liz Truss taking only three weeks to destroy this economic stability, but he “swiftly manoeuvred away from answering,” Eshani said.
He claimed the bulk of the economic hardship currently facing the country was due to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
He faced further searching questions from the students about his readiness to abolish the Human Rights Act (HRA). An ardent Brexiteer, Mr Zahawi said that the new British Bill of Rights, currently undergoing its Second Reading in the House of Commons, would “strengthen homegrown rights”.
Eshani added: “He supported this point further by referencing Just Stop Oil’s civil resistance and how the British Bill of Rights will aim to clamp down on disruptive pressure groups.”
Stemming from this, one student asked: “How can we support a government that legislated to stifle our right to protest with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill?”
“I believe the right to protest and express opinion is a cornerstone of our democratic society,” Mr Zahawi responded and stressed that the act “maintains public order” by enhancing the police’s ability to take action against “unjustifiable disruption”.
Mr Zahawi also triggered an angry backlash from union officials and workers who were upset by what they saw as an attempt to link their strike action to the war in the Ukraine.
Mr Zahawi: “This is not a time to be divided. We have to come together to, I hope, send a very clear message to Mr Putin that he can’t use energy as a weapon in this way. If you chase inflation or above-inflation pay then you will embed inflation for longer and hurt the most vulnerable. This is not a time to strike, this is a time to negotiate.
“To ask for a 19 per cent pay rise (for nurses) which would cost the NHS £10bn I think is the wrong thing to do right now.”
