NOTE: Opinions expressed in this blog post and attachments (such as, but not limited to, audio, video and photos) are my own opinions and are not the opinions of Bury Youth Cabinet, Youth Parliament Northwest or the United Kingdom Youth Parliament.
John Coles outside the House of Commons
On Friday 4th November hundreds of MYPs made their ways to the House of Commons to sit in the chamber and have their annual debate. This is the third time that the UKYP has been able to do this and I think I can say thAt we are all glad that the UK Parliament give us the opportunity to do this event. Starting at 10:55 we were briefed about what to do, how to address each other and reminded that what we said was being broadcast live to the whole world via BBC Parliament (UK). Even though the debates started at 11:00 to anyone watching they started at 11:05 due to the delay imposed to allow the removal of profanities (which I am happy to report that there were none).
My work may have started at 11:00 but I had to be up at 5:40 to get ready, which when you are representing just over 13,000 young people takes longer than usual. Once I was ready it was off to Manchester Piccadilly to meet the wonderful Heather Walton (Youth Participation Officer for Bury Council), Lauren Webb (my fellow Media Rep, MYP for Bolton and a really awesome young woman), Asim (a great guy, keep shouting) and Heidi Wooly.
Once we were all there it was time to board our train ready to got to London Euston. Myself and Lauren used the time productively, well we filmed part of a musician video, read some of The Social Network script and discussed virtually all the videos on my iPad.
Upon arriving in London we were quick to disembark the Virgin train and head on over to the Underground station at Euston. This was made ever more difficult by the fact that it was like every person who could possibly fit on the Tube was already on. This resulted in Heidi nearly getting stuck in the doors, graciously saved by Heather.
After a brief (but very warm and busy) ride on the Tube it was time to go in to the Houses of Parliament. The email we received warned us that the security was tighter than an airport and the email was right. I must mention at this point that we had met up with the ever wonderful Ryan Barnes (love yo Ryan) and numerous other MYPs from all over the North west that made waiting in the typically cold and breezy weather of the UK that bit more bearable.
A quick trip through security and two passes later we were ready to enter the Chamber. I do have to point out that other than MPs, MYPs are the only other people allowed to use the house of commons for debating, and therefore allowed to sit on the Green Benches.
This is where my blog post started and this is where I will skip the not-so-interesting parts that are not boring either. During the morning we debated Public Transport, Tuition Fees and Zero Tolerance to Bullying. It was them time for lunch, in which I managed to have a brief (read saying Hello) chat with the speaker of the house, Rt Hon John Bercow MP. Had some lunch and read up on the topics we were covering in the afternoon. These were End Child Poverty Now and A greener future for Britain.
We continued to debate our way through the afternoon until about 14:30 when it was the time we had all been working to. Deciding on our main topic of work for the next year. I am happy to say that we are going to be working on “Make public transport cleaner, cheaper and accessible for all” for the next year. This was the outright winning choice with 107 votes.
However before the vote were announced here were a few other points of business to be sorted out such as our huge group photo. I can say with some level of authority that kneeling on the floor in the Chamber is not comfy at all (something me and Lauren have both learnt).
The result was announced, thank you’s were said and we left the Chamber. It was then time for us to all start making our return journeys back to where we came. Walking around the house of commons whilst people are on tours and feeling rather important is a good feeling. However crossing the road and the green man changing to a red one is not, this seemed to happen every time we crossed in London (this led me to screaming out to Ryan in the morning and again in the afternoon). Navigating through the tube system is an absolute breeze with an Oyster card and the Tube Map iOS App. We arrived at Euston in plenty of time for our train back to Manchester which didn’t depart until 18:57. We all decided to go to Nando’s and I have to say the food was brilliant, but not as half as good as the company. We were there for quite a while, resulting to Asim eating frozen yoghurt with wild herb sauce on.
Skipping ahead about an hour and me, Lauren and Ryan had worked our way through all the shops at Euston (no mean feat as there are only 3, 4 if you count the two different WHSmiths). We had time to kill so resorted to reading The Social Network script once again, and balancing Lauren. Needless to say that the latter ended up with me and Ryan sitting on the most uncomfortable rail possible and Lauren on the floor.
Then it was time to go home. That is where I am now. On a train somewhere between London Euston and Crewe. I hope you have enjoyed this insight to my day. I have definitely learnt that it is the people that make Youth Parliament what it is.
If you are a member of the press and would like an official press release for this event than feel free to get in touch asking for it. My email is john@johncol.es
Once again here is the disclaimer.
NOTE: Opinions expressed in this blog post and attachments (such as, but not limited to, audio, video and photos) are my own opinions and are not the opinions of Bury Youth Cabinet, Youth Parliament Northwest or the United Kingdom Youth Parliament.
