Warwickshire votes in Members of Youth Parliament
Four young people have been voted to represent the county as Warwickshire’s new Members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYPs).
The county’s new MYPs are Matilda Lomas (17) from the Warwick district, Ellen Slack (16) from Bedworth, and Jonathon Cox (17) and James Handy (14) who are both from the Stratford district. They will represent Warwickshire’s young people at local, regional, national and international events. The results of the elections were announced at special ceremony at Shire Hall in Warwick last night.
More than 5,000 votes were cast, four times as many as last year, with voting taking place by text message and at youth centres and schools across the county. Twenty young people stood as candidates and have been busy competing for just four places since the beginning of the year. Voting started on Monday 5 February and closed on Monday 12 February.
Cllr Alan Farnell, Leader of Warwickshire County Council, who announced the results at Shire Hall, said: “We are pleased to welcome our new members of Youth Parliament. The input that last year’s MYPs made was invaluable and we are grateful to them for making a difference for the better. We wish this year’s MYPs every success.”
During their term of office MYPs represent the views and interests of young people in their constituency, both locally and nationally, by meeting councillors, MPs and other decision makers to take forward issues of local importance. Last year’s MYPs brought many youth issues to the fore including the debate about teenage pregnancy by campaigning for better relationship and sex education in Warwickshire’s schools.
The aim of the Youth Parliament is to give young people in the UK a voice which will be heard and listened to by local and national government, providers of services for young people and other agencies who have an interest in the views and needs of young people. UKYP has the support of Prime Minister Tony Blair, Leader of the Opposition David Cameron, and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell.