Debate Topics

We have provided an extensive list of debate topics to get you started. Motions always start with ‘This house…’ which really just means ‘We, the team who are speaking…’ Motions are tagged to give an idea of what levels they are best for. Look out for our ‘Debate Hub favourite’ tag!

This House would ban charities from proselytising in the developing world

This House would prevent MPs from having an alternative source of income

This House would allow human cloning

This House would stop funding space exploration

This House would ban boxing

This House would punish football teams for the behaviour of their fans

This House would ban all sports involving animals

This House would give lifetime bans to sports players convicted of violent criminal offences

This House would require equal media coverage of men’s and women’s sports

This House would ban gambling

This House would ban beauty contests

This House would ban music with violent lyrics

This House would ban all advertising

This House would ban the use of Photoshop in advertising

This House would abolish the minimum wage

This House would scrap all government arts funding

This House would ban the use of models below a ‘healthy’ weight

This House believes that Miley Cyrus is a good role model for women

This House would require people to work in exchange for welfare payments

This House would introduce a 100% inheritance tax

This House would cut welfare support to compulsive gamblers

You have the ability to know when and how people will die. This House would not tell anyone

This House would force companies to put more women in senior positions

This House would pay stay at home parents a salary

This House would not consume art created by people who have committed deeply immoral acts

This house regrets the characterisation of soldiers as heroes

This House would abolish all forms of affirmative action

This House Would introduce blind voting in national elections

This House Believes that environmental policy should be decided by unelected scientific experts selected by their peers

This House, as a Parent, would actively instil a value of disobeying authority in children

This House Supports strong norms encouraging children to highly prioritise the pursuit of excellence in competitive hobbies (e.g. debating, traditional sports, music, e-sports)

This house believes the west should covertly harm relations between India and China

This house believes that activist groups should prioritise a strong social media presence over their physical presence

This house believes that children are entitled to privacy from their parents

This house would require all children to learn a musical instrument

This house would make the school day shorter

This house would offer bonuses to teachers for their students’ performance in school

This house prefers being rich to being smart

This house would reduce the length of the summer holidays

This house would fine parents when their children don’t complete their homework

This house would prioritise charities that support people to ones that support animals

This house prefers to live in the city, rather than the countryside

This house would ban competitive sports in schools

This house would replace all teachers with machines (computers, AI, robots, etc.)

This house would want to be a celebrity

This house would ban junk food

This house would ban homework

This House would stop sending humans into space

This house opposes pet ownership

This House would ban violent video games

This House believes that reality TV has a negative effect on society

This house believes that significant indigenous groups (e.g. Maori and Aboriginal populations in New Zealand and Australia, Native Americans in the USA) should form their own sports teams rather than partake in the national teams of their country of residence

This house regrets the National Lottery

This house opposes the trope whereby the main character sacrifices themselves for the greater good

This house regrets the memeification of mental health

This house believes that the environmental movement should advocate for geo-engineering as a mechanism for addressing climate change as opposed to attempts to lower global CO2 emissions (e.g. reduction of fossil fuel usage)

This house would ban all further research into gene-alteration

This house believes that parents should not push their children to socialise

In schools that have a school uniform, This house would require teachers to wear a school uniform

This house would require every young person to learn maths up to the age of 18

This house opposes US cultural dominance (e.g. US TV shows being popular in other countries, extensive reporting of US politics, use of US slang in countries other than the US, etc.)

This house believes that the EU should stop expanding

This house would disband NATO

This house would make it illegal to pay a ransom

This house would allow female soldiers to fight on the front line

This house believes that every country should have the right to possess nuclear weapons

This house would require university students to work in their country of origin for a number of years after graduation

This house would remove restrictions on child labour in the developing world

This would allow soldiers to opt out of individual conflicts due to moral objections

This house believes that wealthy countries should relax their immigration laws

This house regrets the media showing photos of drowned asylum seekers

This house would ban the broadcast of any terrorist-provided hostage footage

This house would return all cultural treasures to their countries of origin

This house would offer dictators asylum in return for them giving up power

This house believes that the government should censor the media during times of war

This house would never negotiate with terrorists

This house believes that the US should pay reparations for slavery

This house would not give development aid to non-democratic governments

This house would privatise healthcare

This house would legalise the voluntary sale of human organs

This house would make vaccinations compulsory

This house would legalise euthanasia

This house believes that important decisions about children’s health should be made by medical professionals and not by their parents

This house would legalise all drugs

This house would introduce a tax on unhealthy foods

This house would ban smoking

This house would ban cosmetic surgery

This house would impose lighter carbon emissions targets on developing countries

This house would ban all testing on animals

This house would ban eating meat

This house would ban cars in cities

This house would abolish tuition fees at university

This house would not require parental consent before teaching sex education

This house would force universities to lower their entry requirements for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds

This house would ban home schooling

This house would carry out random drug tests in schools

This house would ban boarding schools

This house would introduce compulsory national service

This house would punish parents for the behaviour of their children

This house would allow random bag searches in schools

This house would make Physical Education compulsory in schools

This house would ban the use of child actors

This house would ban school uniforms

This house would abolish single-sex schools

This house would stream students in school according to academic ability

This house would introduce a curfew for children

This house would ban ads targeted at children

This house believes that teachers should publicly shame bullies in schools

This house would allow children to vote on what they are taught at school

This house would introduce a Universal Basic Income

This house believes that film and television studios should significantly increase the number of female villains in their productions

This house regrets the romanticisation of motherhood

This house believes that government economic policy should prioritise the collective happiness and well-being of the population over economic growth

This house would weight votes such that the younger the voter, the more powerful their vote

This house believes that our strongest moral obligation is to our surrounding community rather than to humanity at large

This house believes that parents should teach children to choose friendship instead of romantic love as the primary relationship of importance in their life

This house regrets the narrative that homeownership is aspirational

This house opposes the rise of celebrities openly supporting politicians

This house believes that the voting age should be lowered to 16

This house believes that all educational institutions should be required to provide students with online attendance options, even after COVID-19

This house believes that the LGBT+ movement should prioritise promoting a narrative of reinterpretation of religions, rather than promoting a narrative against religions

This house would allow the use of ChatGPT for all school work

This house would ban the use of Unpaid Interns

This house would not allow Politicians to switch Political Parties while elected

This house prefers a world where everyone has superpowers to a world where nobody has superpowers

This house opposes TikTok

This house would prioritise providing students in rural areas with online access to ‘top schools’’ classes over developing schools in those rural areas

This house would ban the sale and consumption of alcohol

This house opposes the narrative that people should pursue doing something they love as a career

This house would ban Religious Schools

This house would make the majority of a company’s board elected by employees

This house prefers that a students’ final A level grade is based on the average performance over 2 years as opposed to a single high stake standard exam

This house prefers conditional cash transfer programmes to conditional welfare payments

This house opposes the narrative that love is about sacrifice

This house would implement a 4 day working week

Assuming feasiblity This house supports the use of technology that exactly imitates deceased loved ones in appearance, personality and manner.

This house would significantly reduce income tax rates for women

This house regrets dominant narratives of good triumphing over evil in children’s fiction

This house opposes the commercialisation of culturally significant locations as tourist destinations (e.g. Bali in Indonesia, Hoi An in Vietnam)

This house believes that the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) should be restricted exclusively to government-controlled or funded institutions

In areas of socioeconomic deprivation, This house would prioritise training students in vocational skills (such as being a mechanic, electrician, carpenter, etc.) as opposed to traditional academic subjects (history, language, advanced maths, etc.)

This house opposes the narrative that women can have it all (e.g. having a family, a successful career, love etc.)

This House prefers a world where people don’t believe in free will

This house prefers a technocracy over a democracy

This house would give schools significant leeway on what they teach

This house believes traditional news organisations should not have an opinion section

This house would not allow opinion polls in the six weeks before an election

This house believes big data will improve the world

This house would require parents to take equal amounts of parental leave

This house regrets the rise of citizen journalism

In 1973, the SCOTUS legalised abortion, although the majority of Americans opposed abortion at the time. This house regrets the decision

This house believes the LGBTQ+ movement should reject Christianity

This house believes the feminist movement should embrace the sport of cheerleading

This house believes Grime has been good for the Black British community

This house believes Hip Hop has been good for the African American community

This house would never televise trials

This house believes it is better for MPs to be selected by their local party members rather than by party apparatus

This house prefers a world where the norm is to pursue higher education in your early to mid twenties rather than late teens

This house believes No Confidence votes in party leaders should be public

This house believes Mumsnet does more harm than good

This house regrets the existence of dating apps

This house believes Academic Scholarships should be based purely on economics status

This house regrets the popularity of ‘soldiers coming home’ videos

This house believes teachers should be allowed to express political opinions in class

This house believes the USA should remove all statues of slave owners

This house regrets the rise of anti-heroes

This house regrets the rise of reality TV

This house believes in countries where firearms are legal and widespread, high school students should be taught how to use them

This house supports euthanasia

This house regrets the narrative of ‘levelling up’

This house would allow those committed of crimes to serve in the military rather than prison

This house would allow adults to opt in to conversion therapy

This house would introduce menstrual leave

This house would replace exams with coursework

This house, as an MP who personally opposes a law that 80% of your constituents support, would not vote for the law

This house believes party leaders should be elected purely by MPs, not party members

This house regrets the narrative of individual climate responsibility

This house prefers environmental movements that heavily prioritise local agendas over global ones

This house opposes the popularisation of therapy speak

This house believes the LGBTQ+ movement should campaign for policy change rather than social change

This house would impose term limits on MPs

This house, as a parent, would read your teen’s messages and monitor their internet browsing

This house, as a feminist campaigner and author, would decline an invitation to appear on Piers Morgan to discuss feminism

This house supports an increase in women only spaces including, but not limited to, female only tube carriages, gyms and schools

This house prefers a world where all countries have equal geopolitical power

This house supports straight artists presenting as LGBTQ+

This house, as a KS3 student, would not follow news and current affairs

This house, as a progressive billionaire who has decided to spend considerable sums on improving the media, would fund progressive rather than objective media

This house, as a talented and intelligent teenager, would not go to university

This house regrets the commercialisation of Pride

This house believes employees should not have to disclose personal romantic relationships to HR

This house believes we owe a greater moral duty to future generations than to the present

This house believes the portrayel of autistic genius characters in media has done more harm than good

This house believes K Pop has done more harm than good

This house regrets the glorification of authenticity in art

This house believes the NHS should charge patients whose illnesses are brought about by lifestyle choices

This house believes Ethnic Enclaves do more harm than good

This house believes Ethnicity should be a significant factor in adoption and fostering

Assuming it was one or the other, this house prefers career politicians

This house believes all citizens should have to pass a general knowledge test to be able to vote

This house would ban smoking, including e-cigarettes

This house supports ‘eco-vandalism’

This house believes feminists should reject the beauty industry

This house would introduce the death penalty

This house would give more votes to young people

This house would ban private schools

This house would ban grammar schools

This house would ban violent combat sports such as boxing

This house believes social media does more harm than good

This house believes it is immoral to be an Instagram model

This house believes the British Museum should return all artifacts to their countries of origin

This House Would Ban Zoos

This house would replace exams with coursework