During the summer, the British Youth Council brought together a wide range of young people from various organisations to discuss, in depth, the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) with ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The roundtable discussion invited plentiful views and contributions. Most notably I think, was this common idea that climate action can bring a whole series of solutions and positive changes to many other constituent issues within society. For example, the pledge made in the EIP to make “every household within a 15 minut ..read more

UK Youth Parliament has chosen to focus on finance and funding of free school mealsfor the remainder of its ‘Food for Learning’ campaign. The topic has been declared following the UK Youth Parliament’s twelfth sitting in the House of Commons Chamber on Friday 17th November 2023.  The sessions were chaired by Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Dame Rosie Winteron MP. Powerful speeches and articulate arguments were made around universal free school meals and food security for young people. Hardik Singh, Member of Youth Parliament ..read more

On Friday 17th November, UK Youth Parliament will debate universal free school meals and food security for young people as part of their campaign, ‘Food for Learning’. More than 200 Members of Youth Parliament from across the UK will participate in the House of Commons debate, which forms part of their proposed solutions to extending free school meals.  The event, which is their twelfth sitting, will see representatives debate the issues they will prioritise for the remainder of the ‘Food for Learning’ campaign. The campaign, which is due to culminate early next year,  is coordinated ..read more

Knife crime and violence towards and amongst young people is still on the rise. For young people in the UK this is not a new revelation. There seems to be a constant stream of reports  on social media and in the news of countless young people murdered on our streets. According to the Youth Justice Board, in 2021 to 2022, 3,500 knife and offensive weapon offences were committed by those aged 10 to 17. It’s devastating to think about the tragedies that befall young people, and every murder increases the worry and anxiety that we feel, leading to more carrying knives and more incidents occur ..read more

On the crisp morning of Wednesday, 11th October, I was honoured to have been part of an important conversation about the role of democratic engagement among young people. The roundtable brought together diverse perspectives in a bid to address a pressing issue in the UK’s political framework. In attendance were the Youth Voice Advocacy Group, members of the Votes at 16 Youth Action Group, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Dive deep into contemporary UK politics and you’ll spot a concerning trend: the youth’s growing apathy towards politics and democratic processes ..read more

In September, the British Youth Council launched Challenge 75, a fundraising campaign to celebrate its 75th anniversary.  Our fantastic group of fundraisers took part in a 30-day challenge that involved activities related to the number 75. While some preferred to walk or run for 75 miles, others opted for nicher challenges, like the British Youth Council Chair, who started a read-a-thon that encouraged her to read a book for 75 minutes every day. Every fundraiser worked hard to achieve their targets, and we loved seeing snippets of what people got up to online. Some fundraisers joined our ..read more

The upsurge in youth activism in recent years has led to more young people getting involved in making change happen, in the best ways that are accessible to them. This can take many forms, from social media campaigns to involving themselves in local politics or even protest. There are a myriad of examples of this with the Votes at 16 campaign being only one, our aim being to give young people the right to vote in all national elections in the UK. To fully encapsulate the importance of our campaign, let us first familiarise ourselves with the idea of democracy through the lens of its political ..read more

The British Youth Council is delighted to welcome new guidance from the government to local authorities on supporting young people in their local areas. The new guidance, which has been issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is set to ensure young people have the services and activities they need in their local area.  The British Youth Council, alongside many of its sector partners at the Back Youth Alliance, has been lobbying for updated local authority guidance on provisions for young people since 2016. Research from the University of Northampton, Institute of Soc ..read more

For the first time ever, voters were required to present an accepted form of photographic identification before being issued with their ballot paper in local elections in England on 4th May 2023. The new law was first proposed to Parliament by Boris Johnson in 2021. Downing Street said that voter ID was intended to prevent potential election fraud, specifically personation. Personation is where someone pretends to be someone else in order to exercise that person’s right to vote. This deprives the true elector of their vote and allows the fraudulent elector to (in effect) vote more than once. H ..read more

Members of the British Youth Council Youth Select Committee will be joined by key figures from organisations including Disability UK and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to hear evidence as part of their inquiry into the cost of living and its impact on young people’s health.  Almost half a million young people declared health and wellbeing their biggest concern in a UK-wide ballot of young people aged 11 to 18 last year, with further research over the summer concluding the cost of living crisis was a key driving factor.  Taking place on Friday 15 September in Portcullis House, the ora ..read more