Stone young people hit the campaign trail

Three young people from Stone are on the campaign trail as they hope to be elected as a Staffordshire Member of the UK Youth Parliament (MYP).

Henry Hallatt, aged 16, Jack Taylor, 15, and Matt Hall, also 15, are joined by 14-year-old Luke McCormack from Penkridge as the candidates for the Stafford and South Staffs seat.

Henry Hallett wants young people to have a direct influence. He said: “I want young people’s voices to be heard. We don’t really get much of a choice. All the decisions seem to be made by people much older than us. Decisions should be more focused on young people, and I think young people should have a direct input in any decision that affects them.”

Jack Taylor wants to challenge some of the negative perceptions of young people. He said: “I want to change the way young people are perceived. We get a lot of bad press and I don’t think this is right. Young people need a voice. If we don’t have a voice, how can we influence the future? Young people matter, and I really want to get that across.”

Matt Hall thinks there should be more life skills in the school curriculum. He said: “I think there should be a mixture of life skills and academic skills taught at school. Young people really aren’t being set up for actually becoming an adult. I’d also like to see an increase in sport and leisure facilities. The facilities in my local area, for example, are too expensive and don’t really have the variety of services that young people want. I’d really like to change this.”

Luke McCormack would like to bridge the gap between old and young. He said: “I’ve had a lot of experience doing council work, and this has made me want to help people locally and nationally. I want to bridge the generation gap, get old and young people together and break down some of the negative perceptions. I also think public transport, especially trains, is too expensive so I want to try and change that.”

Elections are held every two years to choose Staffordshire’s members of the UK Youth Parliament. Staffordshire has five members (MYP’s) who represent the county in the West Midlands Youth Parliament, and will also sit on Staffordshire’s Youth Action Kouncil (YAK), a decision making body for the county’s young people.

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Staffordshire’s UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) elections will be taking place on February 22, while voting officially opens on February 2.

Young people across the county can vote, with the polls officially opening on February 2nd and closing on February 16th. Details of how and where to vote are all on Youthbox, the dedicated website for young people in Staffordshire. Visit www.youthbox.info/ukyp for more information.