Lynne Featherstone MP last week visited Hornsey School for Girls. Year 11 students had organised a “Stop FGM (female genital mutilation) Day,” and invited the Liberal Democrat MP to attend.

The MP for Hornsey and Wood Green met with the head of citizenship, the head teacher and chair of governors. The students then gave a presentation on why stopping FGM is so important, interviewed the MP on the issue and then asked more general questions.

Before leaving, the Liberal Democrat MP dropped into an A-level Government and Politics class to take questions on her role in Parliament.

In 2010 the Prime Minister appointed Lynne Featherstone MP as the international ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas, a role which has been retained despite the move from the Home Office to the Department for International Development.

After the visit, Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“It was a privilege to visit the students and take part in their campaign day. It is so encouraging to see intelligent young women tackling this issue – which has been largely ignored in the mainstream. I wish them well in what I’m sure will be very bright futures.

“Female Genital Cutting is an awful practice which has the most devastating and long lasting effects on women and girls – but there is now real momentum in Africa to tackle the issue. It’s now my ambition to see Female Genital Cutting abandoned within a generation.”