‘Make Your Mark’ is an annual consultation run by the UK Youth Parliament where young people aged 11-18 have the opportunity to vote inform UKYP’s campaign for the next year by voting for their top issue from a list of 10.
This year, over 920,000 young people voted nationally and Suffolk had a fantastic turn-out of 13,906! This is a large increase on previous years and so a big thank every young person who took part and every school, organisation oryouth group who got involved. Well done to all the Members of Youth Parliament, Deputy Members of Youth Parliament and Make Your Mark champions who worked hard to collect votes!
The breakdown of votes in Suffolk was as follows:
| Living wage | 3015 |
| A curriculum to prepare us for life | 2417 |
| Mental Health | 1627 |
| Climate Change | 1450 |
| Transport | 1219 |
| Tackling racism and religious discrimination | 1153 |
| The end of austerity and child poverty | 891 |
| Votes at 16 | 871 |
| Extended Special Educational Needs Support | 738 |
| Fund our youth services, don’t cut them | 515 |
| Spoilt ballots | 10 |
The next step is for Members of Youth Parliament to debate the top five issues from the National total and decide which two issues will become the UK Youth Parliament campaigns for 2016. These five issues are:
- A living wage
- A curriculum to prepare us for life
- Mental Health
- Transport
- Tackling racism and religious discrimination, particularly against those who are Muslim or Jewish.
The debate will take place in the House of Commons on Friday 13 November 2015 and I’m pleased to announce that Toby Jeffery (MYP for Bury St Edmunds) will be Debate Lead for East of England and speaking on the issue of Mental Health. To find out more about MYM visit the UKYP website.
Lisa Gordon, Support Worker for UK Youth Parliament (Suffolk)
[email protected]
