Last month, at the Labour Party Conference I co-hosted a panel discussion with my Youth Ambassadors Rebecca, Poppy and Emmanuel.
We were joined by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the Children’s Laureate; Stephen Morgan MP, the Minister for Early Education; and Natasha Irons MP, Chair of the APPG for Youth Affairs, where we discussed the importance of listening to children’s voices, their priorities and concerns, and the solutions to putting children’s voices at the heart of policy decisions.
A few days on, I’ve asked the three Ambassadors to reflect on the experience and what their key message for the Prime Minister would be – here’s what they had to say:
Poppy:
“By biggest take home from the Labour Party Conference is that when young people are given the opportunity to be heard, people do want to listen! We have so many ideas, and so many ways we want to share them, we just need the opportunity to be heard.
“If I got to speak to the Prime Minister, I would urge him to listen to young people as we have so many innovative ideas on how to make the country a better place. I would also urge him to set up opportunities for young people to be heard.”
Rebecca:
“It was great to speak on The Big Conversation panel, it was amazing to see just how engaged everyone who came to the panel were to hear directly from young people and how they wanted to hear our ideas and hear the constructive criticism, so the ideas they come up with have a good impact on children and young people.
“If I spoke to the Prime Minister, I would say to him, please listen to the views of children and young people. So often children and young people feel the adults around them aren’t representing their views and because of this it leads to them feeling disconnected from the decisions that adults make that affect children’s lives.
“When I’ve spoken to other children and young people, they would love to be given the opportunity to be able to talk about what they think on certain decisions, just so that they feel like they’re not just a checklist box but so that they feel they can make meaningful and impactful change.”
Emmanuel:
“Speaking on The Big Conversation panel was an amazing experience; we were able to highlight the issues young people face and bring our key ideas to the heart of government. Us Young Ambassadors were given this amazing opportunity to speak alongside Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Children’s Laureate; Stephen Morgan MP, Minister for Early Education; and Natasha Irons MP, Chair of the APPG for Youth Affairs – all of whom were passionate about changing the lives of young people.
“If I was Prime Minister, I would ensure that the views and voices of young people across the regions were heard and that these young voices were amplified so that young people are able to speak up on a platform where they are able to embrace themselves and be themselves.
“As Prime Minister it’s important that young people feel confident that they can speak to policy makers and not worry about who is going to judge them or who would joke about what they have to say.”