ABERSYCHAN-BORN former MP Lord Touhig returned to Gwent on Friday for an inspiring visit to secondary school pupils.

The member of the House of Lords, who was elected as an MP in 1995, spoke to Year 10 and 11 pupils at Newbridge Comprehensive School.

Lord Touhig talked about life in Westminster and parliamentary processes, and then received questions from the students on topics ranging from Syria to Scottish independence.

The visit was arranged through the Peers in Schools programme, which was launched in 2007, which sends members of the House of Lords into schools across the country.

English teacher Claire Lester, who is head of the Welsh Baccalaureate at the school, said: “It went really, really well and was a wonderful event.

“It inspired the pupils to ask some interesting questions. They were fascinated to meet a real previous MP and member of the House of Lords.

“Lord Touhig spoke about things along the lines of how parliamentary processes work and the impact on decision making.

“It really helped them to develop understanding of the political system.”

Head boy at Newbridge School, Jago Lewis, said: “As an aspiring politician I really got a huge amount out of today and thank Lord Touhig for coming to talk to us.”

Lord Touhig, who was a former editor of the Monmouthshire Free Press, was a Labour MP for Islwyn before serving as parliamentary private secretary for Gordon Brown.

The Peers in Schools programme has so far seen 50,000 young people across the UK be visited by members of the Lords.