A YEUK Youth Ambassadors account of the All Party Political Group on Youth Affairs: Labour Event – 28th January  By Jack WelchÂ
What with the General Election less than five months away, UK Parliamentarians in conjunction with the All Party Political Group on Youth Affairs (APPG) are hosting a series of unique debates January – March, which offer an opportunity for young people to put their views forward to three political parties
- January – Labour Party (Featured)
- February – Liberal Democrats
- March – Conservative Party
The first of the three events was hosted by the Labour Party who shared their most relevant manifesto points for young people and were challenged by the age group which may well make or break any of the parties’ fortunes.
Chaired by Labour MP Julie Hilling, the panel included:
- Shadow Minister for Civil Society –Â Lisa Nandy MP
- Prospective candidate for Brentwood and Ongar – Liam Preston
- Chair for Young Labour – Simon Darvill
Throughout the course of the session, Labour’s new initiative, #ShapeYourFuture, was frequently highlighted as one of the methods which the party were now seeking to connect with young people raise their engagement.
Which was a hot topic of concern, it was expressed that the low or lack of engagement in politics from young people, was a matter which had high priority for each of the panelists. Darvill stressed the importance of the upcoming National Voter Registration Day, while Nandy reminded the room of the importance of politicians and their level of engagement that they need to have conversations with young people and also the challenge of confronting some of the long-standing problems for young people today.
Once the panelists had discussed their focus points, which including the scrapping of EMA, youth services and affordable transport. The session moved over to body of the room for the remainder of the evening where two main themes were to lead the discussion:
- Engagement in politics
- Skills & Employment
On the subject of youth un/employment the questions brought back the issues which are close to the heart of YEUK, from careers education to the living wage to name a few and it was evident among the packed committee room that these were challenges that were highly evidenced among the young audience. Personally, I asked on behalf of YEUK about Labour’s intention to introduce a compulsory ‘Jobs Guarantee’  the initiatives ability to deliver meaningful opportunities for young people, to enable them to be guaranteed a position and how was this to be legislated and regulated to protect young people from being exploited through such a system. Nandy responded that the government would have full control over the programme and would also be funded to support employers and also young people.
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However, they were more cautious around the abolition of Zero Hour Contracts, that the definition of the zero hour contract must be defined clearly and the difference between the Zero hours and a Flexible contract, that when used appropriately can work well for students and seasonal workers and although the panel did not agree with the current system, they agreed that more damaging measures could be introduced by employers. If elected, Nandy said they would closely monitor this issue.
On the whole, despite the low number of MP’s in the room, the debate was a success. The high turn-out of young people expressing their concerns and raising many of issues affecting all young people from mental health, women in politics and radicalisation showed the depth of understanding the current generation has of the issues they are facing.
The Shadow Minister for Civil Society – Lisa Nandy MP this week reflected on the event:
“It was great to see so many young people turn up to quiz their representatives on such a broad range of topics. Young people need a much louder voice in public life, and by leading this debate they’ve shown that they will not be silenced in this election”
The next APPG event will be the turn of Coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. YEUK and its Young Ambassadors will be sure to be present and once again get into the heart of the challenges of youth employment.
Where would you like to go now?
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- Read Jack’s response to the Conservative’s Community Work Program
- Log on and enter the YEUK Competition & have your voice heard!
- Read about the Youth Friendly Charter
- Read about Cyrus and his Apprenticeship so far
- Read about the Members benefits YEUK offers Orgs and business’s
