UK Youth Parliament 2017

On 10 November 2017 the House of Commons chamber will host the eighteenth annual sitting of the UK Youth Parliament.

The UK Youth Parliament’s sitting in the House of Commons will take place the Friday before the start of Parliament Week – an annual programme of events and activities that connects people with the UK Parliament.

What is the UK Youth Parliament?

The UK Youth Parliament provides opportunities for 11-18 year olds to use their elected voice to bring about social change through meaningful representation and campaigning. The UK Youth Parliament has over 280 seats for elected MYPs all aged 11-18.

MYPs are usually elected in annual youth elections throughout the UK. Any young person aged 11-18 can stand or vote. In the past year, almost one million young people have voted in UK Youth Parliament elections.

Once elected, MYPs organise events and projects, run campaigns and influence decision makers on the issues which matter most to young people. All MYPs have the opportunity to meet once a year at the UK Youth Parliament Annual Sitting.

What will the MYPs discuss?

Each year MYPs present the issues they were elected to campaign on. Those already in the manifesto are filtered out and others covering similar content are combined.

The final list of manifesto policy motions goes forward to the online MYP vote to prioritise the issues they would like most to be debated at the Annual Sitting. This year the Annual Sitting was held in July at Liverpool Hope University.

Manifesto motions are voted on at the Annual Sitting with speeches for each motion and an open floor debate. The top ten issues are prioritised and go forward to a national consultation though the Make Your Mark ballot.

Make your Mark ballot 2017

The following issues were on the Make you Mark ballot paper and voting ran from 24 July to 29 July.

1. Votes at 16
2. A Curriculum to prepare us for life
3. First aid education for all young people
4. Mental health
5. Transport
6. Protect LGBT+ people
7. Support for young carers
8. Making the invisible visible
9. Protect school budgets from damaging cuts
10. Work Experience hubs for 11-18 year olds

 The five issues to be debated

The five top issues from the ballot will be debated in the House of Commons, where MYPs vote for the two issues to be campaigned on during the following year. The five issues that have been prioritised for 2017 are: a curriculum to prepare us for life; transport; work experience hubs for 11-18 year olds; votes at 16; protect LGBT+ people