Immigration controls feature in next round of Dewar Debate

Another hot political issue forms the subject of the motion in the second round of the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament for Schools, which gets underway tomorrow.

After debating the pros and cons of EU membership in the first round, the 64 teams who have won through to the second round have to tackle the motion "This House would abolish all immigration controls".

Sponsored by the Law Society of Scotland, contests in this round of the competition take place on 20 and 29 January.

Heather McKendrick, careers and outreach manager at the Society, said: “We’ve had an excellent start to this year’s Donald Dewar Debating Tournament and it’s great to see 11 of the schools taking part in the competition for the first time winning through to the next round."

She added: “Young people in Scotland have shown great democratic interest over the last year and the motion for the opening rounds of this year’s tournament saw students tackling the issue of EU membership. I look forward to seeing how the teams approach the next motion on immigration controls.”

Winners from this round go forward to the semi-finals, which will be held in early spring before the final in June.