What do Southampton students think of Jezza?

Selecting Southampton in his tour of marginal constituencies, Corbyn called on students and adults alike to continue to spread the message of the Labour movement in an effort to win Southampton's Itchen from the Tories- defeating a majority of 31 votes.

Corbyn spoke of generational enrichment for young people. He also repeated his stance to eliminate university fees and painted a bleak future under the Tories.

Jez said at the rally "Young people are often laidened with the burden of debt, inadequate housing and their career choices and life chances are damaged as a result."

He criticised the current governments plans, and called on everyone to "challenge the whole idea of austerity and challenge the whole idea of trickle-down economics."

Speaking of his plan for free school meals for primary children and of a need for more investment in local services, he said:"the function and role of a government is to invest in good quality services for everybody."

The Soton Tab spoke to students from across campus and the public at the rally. We asked what they thought about the rally and Corbyn:

Ben Seifert told The Tab he thought Corbyn was, "A breath of fresh air. He articulated a positive alternative for the country". Dan Parkin said that he was "Finally a credible candidate who opposes Tory party policy. He enthused thousands of people all over the country, including students."

University of Southampton student, Arun, told The Tab, "There was a very diverse range of people here, I was initially expecting it to be full of young people but the turn out was varied. It was also very interesting to see how he delivers his speeches. He spoke so passionately and positively and it was inspiring to listen to such a fresh way of thinking."

Another Southampton student, Cameron, told The Tab "It was amazing to see how many people were around. More and more people kept turning up and the speech itself was refreshing to hear. The government has been pedalling the same old shit and so it was inspiring to hear his approach. The stuff he is saying is actually affordable and possible and quite similar to mainstream Scandinavia."

Southampton resident Esther told The Tab "He's an inspirational speaker. This is the first time I've seen him live and he didn't disappoint. He got the crowd revved for a possible election, hopefully, and I agree with his policies and his manifesto and I hope he can generate enough support. My son and his group of friends voted for the first time and I think it's great that he gets young people involved with politics."

A
lthough, not everyone we spoke with praised Jezza. Stephen Kelly told The Tab, "I gave him a chance at first, but his refusal to engage with the official remain campaign during the referendum lost him a lot of respect for me. He was either incompetent or deliberately trying to undermine the pro-EU vote. Since the referendum he's favoured the hardest Brexit possible and has rolled over for the Tories at every given opportunity. He's turned Labour into red-UKIP."

Ned Williams added Corbyn had: "He has made a clear stance for being for the working class. However with policies such as scrapping tuition fees, which benefits the middle class; rail renationalisation; which doesn't clearly benefit anyone; a mostly non existent Brexit plan; and no intention to fully reverse the Conservatives' welfare cuts, I can't help but wonder how the privately educated Jeremy Corbyn got that reputation."

Whether he does become PM or not,  it  is unlikely that the chants of 'oooh Jeremy Corbyn' will stop any time soon.