Young People make HISTORY in UK Politics…

Friday, 30 October 2009 | posted by scott.forbes

Today isn't any ordinary day for young people in the United Kingdom - it is a day of great achievement and pride, as for the very first time in British political history about 300 Members of Youth Parliament have taken seat in the House of Commons, making history - and let me tell you, the debate, which is still ongoing, is fruitful and energetic.

It is a great honour to be a part of a generation to be given this chance to allow their voices, plus those of which they represent in their communities be heard, this special occasion is being presided over by the newly elected Speaker of the House the Rt.Hon John Bercow MP, who had this to say during his opening speech:

'In the whole history of the House of Commons, you are the first body of people other than Members of Parliament to be allowed to use this chamber, I am conscious of the strengths of the Youth Parliament and the skills that it embodies it. Both I and my colleagues all greatly respect, amongst other things, just how inclusive your Parliament is. Particularly in the sense that it is substantially more representative of the country as a whole than the current House of Commons - I know that 50% of you are women, 22% are from ethnic minorities.'

The debate started with the first motion being put forward, asking whether university education should be free for young people, an issue close to my heart that I along with these young people have spent many years campaigning for as a BYC Campaigner and a member of the National Union of Students, the motion was seconded by Johnny Gilchrist MYP and he stated:

'At the moment the university fees favour the very rich or the very poor. It is £3.5 billion to scrap university fees. Where do we get this money from? £20billion is being spent on a nuclear cold war relic which should be scrapped. It is time that the UKYP takes a stand on tuition fees being scrapped. I urge people to think of a system which provides free education for all young people regardless of how poor or rich they are.'

The energy and passion could be felt by all whom watched, he was greeted by a rousing applause from the chamber as he took his rightful seat behind the dispatch box, this was just one of the many comments on this motion of Higher Education University Fees. It was wrapped up by Ariba Karim MYP before going onto to the next motion for today's business within the chamber:

'We need to ensure that when we vote we represent those young people who elected us, we seriously need to consider the system and look at lowering fees, the figures of young people currently in debt are incredible. Now is the time to make change!'

With a comment at the end of the first motion from Mr. Speaker:

'I could not have debated with this eloquence and passion when I was your age'.

It was a very impressive first debate, full of energy, passion, knowledge and drive. It was followed by another gripping debate on Youth Crime and how to tackle it, with that being followed by a motion on Free Transport for Young People, currently everybody is out to lunch and what promises to continue to be an exciting afternoon kicks off again in about 10 minutes time.

You can read and follow a live blog by visiting: http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/liveblog or better still you can watch the debate, which will be available on BBC iPlayer later today, so keep an eye out on that link!