New Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable talked Brexit with a panel of school council students during a visit to Hampton this week.

The Twickenham MP, who will replace Tim Farron as leader of his party this week, visited Hampton High on Friday, for a tour of the school and a chat with a panel of pupils.

Sir Vince fielded questions on a range of subjects including Brexit, education, social media and lowering the legal voting age from 18 to 16 years old.

Asked what his priorities would be once he took over the leadership on Wednesday, Sir Vince said he recently won a ballot to hold an adjournment debate in Parliament on the issue of school funding.

“Although it seems your school [Hampton High] is managing very well, some schools are in terrible trouble,” he said.

“Schools are being asked to pay for more and more things but the government isn’t giving them the money to do so.”

He said his other priorities would be health and the NHS, and working to increase the number of police officers.

Asked how he would help Richmond following Brexit, Sir Vince said: “a lot of people who voted to stay in the EU were either young or highly educated, and this borough is one of the most highly educated in Britain, next to Oxford and Cambridge.

“So Richmond is quite a high Remain area, but quite a lot of people here also voted to Leave.

“But I recently made a prediction on television saying that Brexit may never happen. If it does it might be quite difficult for businesses, schools and universities to recruit people from the EU. It will be hard for you guys [students] to travel to Europe and people who are still in the EU still don’t know what their rights are going to be. I also think it would be very bad for the economy, and as we go on I think more people will start to realise it and the discussion about leaving the EU might come round again.”

Among the students asking questions was Abi Fisher, the school’s elected representative on the Richmond Youth Council.

“I thought he was very to the point and obviously respected our questions and opinions," she said.

"I asked him if he was willing to meet the Richmond Youth Council and I was pleased that he said yes.

“It was good to be given the opportunity to talk to him. The school has given us several opportunities like this to engage in politics, like when we went to a hustings meeting for the general election.”