PUPILS from a Dorchester primary school made the trip to Parliament to lobby politicians on plastic waste.

A group from Damers First School took the fight to the heart of power to challenge politicians on action being taken to tackle plastic pollution.

The children created a plastic-themed collage to give to their representatives, after learning about the role of MPs, before meeting them face-to-face in Parliament.

Chris Loder, MP for West Dorset, was unable to attend, so the pupils enthusiastically lobbied Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, instead.

The pupils joined students from nine other schools from across the country who travelled to London to raise the alarm to their MPs on the UK’s plastic waste problem.

Catherine Smith, headteacher at Damers First School, said: “What a privilege it was to listen to our children, speaking from the heart and sharing their strong opinions on the plastic waste problem during their visit to Westminster.

“To walk into the Houses of Parliament and to hear about what happens within it is powerful itself but to then be joined by so many MPs and to have the opportunity to share your views and your passions around a subject that you feel so strongly about, offered a rare insight into a world that our children don’t often witness first hand.

“Their understanding of how democracy works and the many processes that are needed to bring about change was enhanced during an invaluable conversation with Selaine Saxby and our children returned more determined than ever to ensure that their ideas and suggestions to reduce plastic waste are heard.”

Theresa May, Iain Duncan Smith and Ed Miliband were among the MPs to attend the event which was being held as part of the ‘Big Plastic Count’ Youth Empowerment Day.

The Big Plastic Count is a project launched by Greenpeace UK and Everyday Plastic that saw over 100,000 households, schools, community groups and businesses across the country counting their plastic waste and entering their results into the campaign website.

The campaign aims to highlight the levels of everyday plastic waste and “convince the government to take more action to cut plastic production.”