Members of Youth Parliament from Cardiff along with MYPs from across all the home nations will take over the House of Commons for their eighth annual sitting on November 9th.
Over 1.1 million young people aged 11-18 took part in the UK Youth Parliament ‘Make your Mark’ ballot to decide on the issues for debate at Youth Parliament, with more than 54,000 from Wales and over 13,400 young people from Cardiff alone. This is the largest turnout in Cardiff, beating last year’s turnout by over 3,000. The record breaking numbers makes this year’s ballot one of the largest youth consultations of its kind in UK history, with 1 in 5 of all young people aged 11-18 taking part.
This year’s debate will be chaired by John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons. Cardiff MYPs Connor Clarke, 16, from St Teilo’s Church in Wales High School and Victor Ciunca, 14, from Cathays High School will be attending the House of Commons. Victor will be the debate lead representing Wales.
The Make Your Mark ballot is supported by Local Authorities, schools, Parliament, the British Youth Council and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It gives young people across the country a say on what is to be debated on the green benches of the House of Commons by Members of Youth Parliament.
The five UK wide issues that have been prioritised and will be debated this year are:
- Put an end to Knife crime
- Mental Health
- Equal Pay, Equal Work
- Tackling Homelessness
- Votes at 16
The debate precedes the Child Friendly Cardiff Strategy Launch taking place in City Hall on November 20th, World Children’s Day. We will soon be asking staff to take part and #GoBlue to mark this special occasion.
We are the first Welsh Council to work towards creating a child friendly city and the 3-year programme will see us collaborate with Unicef’s Child Friendly Cities and Communities team to embed children’s rights in local governance, policy and practice.
See the full Make your Mark ballot results HERE.