Debate Topics

Great topics for exciting debates and discussions

We have gathered together a range of debating motions, covering all sorts of topics, from sport to citizenship, to science and international relations. Use them as the starter for a form-time discussion, or as the topic in debating club this week.

Debate topics with stimulus sheets

Our stimulus sheets can be a great way to help novice debaters feel more comfortable when preparing for a debate.

All topics

  • Teachers should wear a uniform
  • School strikes for climate change should be supported
  • All 10 year olds should have a mobile phone
  • Teachers should not tell their pupils which party they will vote for
  • School Uniform Policies Should Be Gender Neutral
  • It is worse to eat too much than to eat too little
  • We should ban junk food for children
  • Competitive sports should not be played in schools
  • We should ban cars from city centres
  • The voting age should be lowered to 12
  • All police officers should carry guns
  • First past the post electoral systems should be reformed
  • International adoption should be banned
  • It is better to live in the countryside
  • Scientists should be ethically responsible for the consequences of their research
  • The world would be a better place if more women were in charge
  • Teen defendants should be judged by teen juries
  • Books should be realistic not fantastical
  • Film versions are never as good as the original books
  • We should stop giving prizes for the arts
  • Schools should be responsible for children’s moral education
  • The UK should welcome a visit from President Trump
  • Peaceful protest achieves nothing
  • The NHS should be privatised
  • There should be children and teenagers in government
  • Giving is better than receiving
  • Extremist political parties should be banned
  • New immigrants should have to swear an “oath of integration”
  • We should donate to charities that support humans over those that support animals
  • The US president should be elected by popular vote
  • Voting should be compulsory
  • London is a great place for teenagers to live
  • Britain should leave the European Union
  • This house believes that we shouldn’t teach art and music in schools
  • Children should be allowed mobile phones in school
  • Seventy years on, the United Nations is a disappointment
  • The minimum wage should be replaced by the living wage
  • Children should not start school until they are seven years old
  • Britain should maintain its nuclear deterrent
  • The electorate should not care about a politician’s youth
  • Affluent nations should accept more refugees
  • All children should attend a summer school
  • It is better to be a teacher than a pupil
  • Elizabeth II should be the last British monarch
  • Children should only get pocket money if they do their chores
  • We would welcome robots into our homes
  • The NHS should fund alternative medical treatments
  • We should ban plastic carrier bags
  • We should blow up boats used for trafficking immigrants across the Mediterranean
  • Sports stars are bad role models for young people
  • We should scrap SATs
  • Nobody should have to wear school uniform
  • We should ban violent video games
  • Party leaders should be required to take part in pre-election debates
  • Scientists should be responsible for the ethical consequences of their work
  • Individuals should not be allowed to have bonfires in their gardens
  • There has never been a better time to be a woman
  • Childhood vaccinations should be compulsory
  • We should allow the creation of babies with three parents
  • Alcohol harms society more than illegal drugs The world will be a better place at the end of 2015 than at the start
  • We should all be vegetarian
  • We should only eat food produced in Britain
  • Children can make a big difference to the environment
  • All secondary schools should be co-educational
  • We support a manned mission to Mars
  • There should be a curfew for under-sixteens
  • This House believes community service is a better punishment than prison for non-violent crimes
  • This House would ban scientific testing on animals
  • England should have its own parliament
  • Scotland should be independent
  • Unhealthy food should not feature in children’s television programmes
  • We should fine parents when their children don’t do their homework
  • Pubs should be allowed to open late to show World Cup matches
  • The rich should pay a lot more tax
  • The use of television cameras in courtrooms should be supported
  • Space exploration is a waste of money
  • Science is the answer to our problems
  • Parents should be allowed to use technology to choose characteristics of their babies
  • Animal testing is scientifically unnecessary
  • We should use more nuclear energy
  • University education should be free
  • Disney films provide bad role models for children
  • We should ban smoking in cars when children are present
  • Political leaders should boycott the Winter Olympics in Sochi
  • Sugar is worse than fat
  • There should be no censorship of the arts
  • Prizes for the arts (such as the Booker prize or the Turner prize) should be stopped
  • The Internet has done more harm than good to the arts
  • Art and music should not be taught in schools except as optional extra-curricular activities
  • The state should not subsidise the arts
  • Child beauty pageants should be banned
  • The world cannot live up to Nelson Mandela’s legacy
  • We should respect the privacy of public figures
  • Children should not be allowed to wear religious symbols in schools
  • There should be quotas for women in top business positions
  • Fireworks should be banned
  • We should invest in more green energy
  • The media provides poor role models to young girls
  • Faith schools should not be funded by the Government
  • Universities should set higher admission criteria for students from private schools
  • All children should get free school meals
  • No footballer is worth £85 million
  • All children should be given iPads to use at school
  • Are you looking forward to the new National Curriculum?
  • All cities should have mayors
  • We should arm Syrian rebels
  • The school summer holiday should be half as long
  • Online gambling should be banned
  • We should invest more in space exploration
  • There’s no need to read the book if you can just watch the film
  • The very wealthy should pay more taxes
  • Money is ruining sport
  • All faiths should allow female religious leaders
  • Prison should only be for violent criminals
  • The BBC should be privatised
  • Parents should be blamed for crimes committed by their children
  • Children shouldn’t have to do chores
  • Bullies should be excluded from schools
  • The House of Lords should be fully elected
  • Abortion should be banned
  • We should elect judges
  • Pupils should appoint their head teacher
  • Modern art isn’t really art
  • It should be harder to get divorced
  • Gambling should be banned
  • Should the press be regulated by the government or left to regulate themselves?
  • Smoking should be banned
  • Parents should be paid for staying at home with their children
  • Detentions don’t work as punishments
  • GCSEs should be abolished
  • Smoking should be made illegal
  • There is life after death
  • Now we have film, there’s no point in the theatre
  • The government shouldn’t give money to museums and art galleries
  • Alcohol should be made illegal
  • 
Free contraception should be handed out in secondary schools
  • Discipline is the biggest problem facing schools today
  • Cannabis should be legalised
  • People should be allowed to own hand guns like they are in America
  • Schools should be allowed to set their own curriculums
  • Women should be allowed to fight on the front line in wars
  • Murderers should never be released from prison
  • Girls and boys should play sports together on the same teams
  • One person can make a real difference
  • We should prioritise giving charity at home before giving charity abroad
  • We should televise criminal trials
  • Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in sports
  • There is no more for feminism to do
  • This House looks forward to the London Olympics
  • Creationism should never be taught in schools
  • The X-Factor has damaged the British Music Industry
  • Money doesn’t bring you happiness
  • There’s no point in studying Shakespeare in schools
  • Research into cloning should be stopped
  • The best way to prepare for the future is to study the past
  • We should try to be more like America
  • Marriage is an outdated institution
  • Mums should stay at home and look after their children
  • Clinically obese children should be taken into care
  • How much money you earn is more important than whether you enjoy your job
  • Children should have more say over their education
  • The negative side of fame outweighs its advantages
  • 
It should be compulsory to learn a foreign language until you are 16
  • The Olympic Games will be good for London
  • School uniforms should be abolished
  • A country should never go to war except in self defence
  • Teachers should be paid according to their results
  • Young people are discriminated against in Britain
  • Globalisation has increased the rich-poor divide
  • Sport should not be compulsory in schools
  • The internet has caused more problems than it has solved
  • There should be a super tax on air travel
  • It’s wrong to keep animals as pets
  • It would be better to go a boarding school than a day school
  • Teachers should be allowed to physically punish students
  • We should abolish the monarchy
  • More English players should play in the Premiership
  • The government should not fund single faith schools
  • We should raise taxes to provide better public services
  • We should ban medical testing on animals
  • Adverts are sexist
  • Children should not be allowed to eat junk food
  • Parents should not be allowed to smack their children
  • It’s never been harder to be a child or a teenager than it is today
  • Assisted suicide should be legal
  • We should bring back the death penalty
  • Recycling should be made compulsory
  • Only British history should be taught in British schools
  • The voting age should be lowered to 16
  • Size zero models should be banned
  • Footballers are paid too much money
  • Television is a bad influence on young people
  • Coursework is better than exams
  • We should shut down zoos
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