Norfolk young people to make history at House of Lords

Added: 02/05/2008
Category: Norfolk County Council

Four young people from Norfolk are to be amongst the first youngsters in the country to debate and vote in the House of Lords.

The UK Youth Parliament will sit in the House of Lords tomorrow, with Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) from Norwich, South Norfolk, and South West Norfolk all in attendance.

Jacob Rix, the member for North Norfolk, will also attend but will be in the press room, answering media enquiries and issuing news release. He is one of two MYP media representatives for the eastern region.

The pilot event is only the second time either Chamber of Parliament has been open to the public for non-parliamentary use and the MYPs are looking forward to the rare opportunity.

The five MYPs to attend are Jacob Rix, 15, (North Norfolk constituency), Chloe Donovan, 13, (South Norfolk), Victoria Caswell, 16, (Norwich North), Alice Hyde, 17, (Norwich South) and Lucy Bennett, 16, (South West Norfolk).

All five were elected to the Youth Parliament in February, following elections run by Norfolk County Council. They will now spend two years in office and during that time will meet monthly at Norfolk County Council's Children's Services Youth Scrutiny Forum. They will also attend quarterly residential meetings across the eastern region with fellow MYPs from other counties.

Jacob Rix, media representative for the UK Youth Parliament, said: “Although we are not old enough to vote in the elections on May 1, this does not mean we have to sit in silence. Young people not only deserve to, but have the right for their voices to be heard. This is exactly what Members of Youth Parliament will be doing when they storm the House of Lords. After all young people are not just the future - we are also today.

“Young people do care about politics, and we do care about the world around us but too often it feels as if adults don't want to listen. Hopefully by allowing young people to take centre stage and sit in the House of Lords this will now change."

Friday's event will see MYPs debate six campaign ideas: the abolition of university tuition fees; a national public transport concession card for young people under the age of 18; the creation of one single age at which young people are deemed to become an adult; lowering the voting age to 16; Your Future, Your World, Your Fight - a recycling / environment campaign and a campaign to ensure fair and accurate representation of young people in the media.

MYPs will discuss the campaigns and vote on the three that will become UK Youth Parliament campaigns over the next two years.

Rosalie Monbiot, Norfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: “This is a remarkable opportunity for these young people to visit the home of British politics and to take part in a debate in one of the world's greatest political arenas.

"The campaigns that have been shortlisted by the Youth Parliament are all incredibly relevant to the young people of Norfolk and I know our MYPs will effectively represent the voice of Norfolk's young people in this debate. I look forward to hearing what the chosen campaigns will be and working with the MYPs over the next two years to ensure their voice is heard on the County Council.”