Thanks to Isle of Wight Member of Youth Parliament Robert Selby for his latest report. Ed
27 February: Arrived at the Council at 5pm
The main item of the agenda was the tabled motion to determine whether the Youth Council will support the Votes at 16 campaign.
Unfortunately, Tessa could not make it but she sent us an email about St George’s school. It highlighted the need for an IWYC representative to be on their school council (I believe James Metcalfe was interested).
Debating the motion
Then there was the debate. I spoke for five minutes for the motion.
I felt it went well, I put my case across clearly and made sure that the references (Student tuition fees, other youth related legislation) I made were relevant to the age group of the Youth Council.
Oskar then spoke. For someone his age he is very able at public speaking. His main argument was that 16 and 17 year olds were not mature enough to vote. A statement I disagree entirely with, because political maturity is not age discriminatory. A 16 year old could be more politically aware than a 36 year old.
Then the debate opened to the other members who asked questions all directed at Oskar. He defended himself well. Then the motion was put to a vote, the result was 13 for and 9 against. I was surprised it came that close but I was pleased all the same.
Supporting votes at 16
The Isle of Wight Youth Council now officially supports the Votes at 16 Coalition.
We were all pleased that the debate went well, so much so that Andy Newman encouraged us to talk to him so that a motion could be tabled for future meetings.
MYP update
I then did my MYP update, in which I told the youth councillors about my meeting with Andrew Turner MP and how we discussed the issues facing the Island’s youth population and what the Youth Council is doing to solve these problems.
Finally, we created the select committees which focus on different aspects of society.
They are:
Education and Employment (myself, Charlie Sherwood, Willoughby Matthews, Freddy Smith, Natalia Kerr, Elspeth Venn, Arife Sen-White and Chloe Nixon. Environment, Sport and Culture: Oskar Mason, Bronte Debenham, James Lush, Luke Belcher, Tom Turtle, Jordan Westwood and Lawrie Mason. Health and Social: Josie Recknagel-Fessey, Chris Case and Aaron Wilkins. Transport: Zara Fuller, Alister Webb, Julia Banachowska and Alec Webb.
All of these committees will help us draw up our aims in what we want to achieve in the next few years. Collectively, we can do anything and we will always represent young people’s interests.
