Year 9 student Lucy Gibbs was selected to represent the South West on a range of political issues from a young person’s perspective. Lucy tells us more about her exciting new role …

I am part of the South West Youth representatives, a small group of young people who all want to be involved with making a difference. We meet once, sometimes twice a month, to discuss issues we would like to address and try to help solve. The issues are usually very broad topics so we have the freedom to pick the specific part of the topic we’d like to look into. For example, some of the topics are mental health, voting at 16 and homelessness.

The representatives age roughly between 12-17 years old and there are about 15 of us. We all vote on a topic to discuss and the topic selected is looked at in great depth. Once we have completed the course, we will have a final project explaining what we have done about the issue and what we wish to do in the future about the topic.

I joined the group because I was an active member of Youth Forum (another politics club which chats about politics on a weekly basis) and the person leading the Youth Forum emailed me and asked if I wanted to join this new group.

When discussing our views on politics, topics that constantly come up are mental health and LGBTQ+ community. As young people, we see a lot of stigma around these topics and we are all very passionate at having our voices heard so we can make a difference as much as we can.

Being a part of a group like this expands your knowledge of what is going on in the world politically. Everyone’s views are respected and occasionally challenged to keep us thinking.

Politics is a wonderful thing and if you share a love for politics, it is even better to get involved with a group like this with people who share your passion and drive.