A taxpayer-funded programme aimed at boosting young people’s interest in politics should not be axed just because “money is tight”, one of its members has said. Last month the BBC learned the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) would not be committing to giving any more grants to the UK Youth Parliament. “If the government is to cut the Youth Parliament there should be reasons and there has to be alternatives, even if the funding is tight,” Aman Fatima, MYP for Essex, told BBC Politics East. The government said it was working on a new scheme to increase young people’s involvement in democracy and decision-making, with further announcements due this autumn.
Established in 1999, the parliament takes place at the House of Commons and boasts more than 300 elected members aged between 11 and 18, including Aman. She said if the scheme – run by the National Youth Agency – was scrapped, an alternative must be found because “young people are the next generation” of government. “Money is tight but you also want young people’s opinions; them to tell you what’s wrong and the challenges they are facing,” she said. “And the [Youth Parliament] really helps young people get their voice out there, especially in a big place such as the House of Commons.” As part of the programme, the young politicians are allowed to hold debates in the House of Commons chamber, on a day when MPs are not sitting, once a year.
In recent years, they have campaigned on issues such as votes for 16-year-olds and for free period products to be made available to students. “There are lots of opinions from people saying that they haven’t seen any difference made, but I think we do contribute to how the government works today,” added Aman. In the last year, the youth parliament received £453,000 in taxpayer funding with about £2.4m public money spent on it between 2017 and 2024. No final decision has been made on funding after March 2027, but a government source said Downing Street would no longer commit to it “in its current form.” Jess Asato, Labour MP for Lowestoft, said she believed the decision had been made because the Youth Parliament was not producing “a diversity of voices”.
“I think what the government’s trying to say is we need things much more locally that bring a lot more young people into that political or democratic engagement,” she said. “In East Suffolk we have a fantastic youth council and that means lots and lots more young people can get involved in things that they care about locally. “But I do wish the government might look at this [decision] again.” Patrick Spencer, Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, said: “The reality is this government needs to make cuts because it needs to fund things that it’s planning to do. “It’s one of the difficult decisions that has got to be made.” The DCMS praised the youth parliament’s “important legacy” and said it had given elected young people “a national platform to represent their peers, engage with decision-makers and develop confidence, leadership and skills for life and work”.
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