The first Union Council of the new semester commenced with the election for the position of Union Council Chair. The previous Chair stood for re-election unopposed

Each Sabbatical officer gave their reports; Elle Gray noted that Portsmouth Students’ Union was aiming to become a Hate Crime Reporting Centre. Ben Norman also reported on yet another successful V.I.P event - the OAP Valentine’s Lunch - which was attended by 60 people.

Three motions had been submitted to Union Council, but two were withdrawn shortly before the day leaving the motion on journalism guidelines.

This motion was submitted to Union Council by Ben Norman, and aims to ensure the Union’s media outlets kept to the guidelines laid out by the National Union of Journalists, and to ensure student media can operate independently of its parent organisation - the Union - to ensure unbiased reporting on stories in the student interest.

Each point of the motion was described by Ben Norman to ensure no stone was left unturned and, after a brief discussion, the motion was passed unanimously by Union Council.

It was in my opinion a very successful Union Council attended by a near record number of members - all that is needed now is for this to continue in the upcoming months.