UK Youth Parliament

UK youth organisation

The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) was a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, consisting of democratically elected members aged between 11 and 18. Formed in 2000, the parliament had 369 members, who were elected to represent the views of young people in their area to government and service providers. Over 500,000 young people voted in the elections each year, which were held in over 90 percent of constituencies. It was dissolved in 2024 after its parent organisation, the British Youth Council, was permanently closed due to financial difficulties. Members met regularly to hold debates and plan campaigns at least three times a year locally, and twice on a national level, which included the annual debate within the Chamber of the House of Commons every November, co chaired by the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Deputy Speakers. Young people held positions throughout the organisation's management, and it was endorsed by the majority of the UK's political parties. Those elected for UKYP held the suffix of MYP (Member of the UK Youth Parliament).

The concept of a United Kingdom Youth Parliament first arose at an event in Coventry entitled "Heirs To The Millennium". After the event, the MP Andrew Rowe and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and youth worker Kate Parish began to develop a proposal for the youth advocacy group. In 1998, a steering committee was formed, led by Andrew Rowe and chaired by a young person named Jannik Ecke. In 2000, Malcolm Wicks, Department for Education and Employment, agreed to employ a member of staff who would work full time on developing the UK Youth Parliament alongside Kate Parish. Soon after, the first elections for the UK Youth Parliament were held, with the first Annual Sitting being held in 2001.

A Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) works with MPs, service providers, and decision makers in order to present the views of their constituents to them. Deputy Members of Youth Parliament (DMYP/SMYP) may also be elected, although not every MYP has a deputy.

The UK Youth Parliament elections are held every one or two years (depending on the local authority), with all young people between the ages of 11 and 18 being entitled to vote or stand. Over one million votes were cast in the elections between 2006 and 2009. In 2008, 565,802 young people voted, with 1,625 standing as candidates from across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The Annual Conference is the parliament's main yearly meeting, which all Members of Youth Parliament attend.

In May 2008, the UKYP was granted permission to hold a debate between over 300 MYPs in the House of Lords, making it one of only two organisations to ever use the venue for non Parliamentary proceedings, the other being the English Speaking Union for their International Mace Final on 12 May 2007.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested that members of the UK Youth Parliament could have annual access to the House of Commons chamber in 2007, but this did not come about until March 2009, when a motion was passed to allow the UK Youth Parliament to use the House of Commons for that year's annual meeting. However, a Conservative Member of Parliament objected, which forced a vote to be taken on the issue, also employing a procedure called "I spy strangers" (historically used to expel disruptive spectators, but now mostly to disrupt the House's business) to take business in the House beyond 7:00pm and stifle any possible debate on the issue. On 12 March, a second debate was held in the House of Commons with a vote set to be taken four days later. On 16 March 2009, 189 Members of Parliament voted to allow the UK Youth Parliament to debate in the House of Commons, with 16 votes of opposition by Conservative backbenchers. It was the first time in history that the House of Commons chamber was used by a group other than MPs. The debates were chaired by John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, who closed the event with a dramatic speech to MYPs in which he described the British National Party as "a poison which we could well do without". The Speaker is usually expected to remain impartial, so as not to compromise his authority, but in this case was able to express personal opinion because the ornamental mace that indicates Parliament is sitting was not in place.

In 2023, For the first time, UK Youth Parliament had representatives of the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man as well as from the UK Overseas Territories including Anguilla and Bermuda. It was also the first time that the UK Youth Parliament debated surrounding their campaign, Free School Meals. Out of the 5 topics debated, Financing and Funding came out on top, meaning that this became the priority campaign for the rest of the term.

The British Youth Council manages the UK Youth Parliament. The British Youth Council won a bid in 2011, granted by the Department for Education to lead a national Youth Voice Service. Youth Voice will support young people in influencing local and national Government decision making in England, and provide continued support for the UK Youth Parliament. The corporate and administrative governance is overseen by the Board of Trustees of the British Youth Council. The British Youth Council announced their closure, after over 75 years, and with it the UK Youth Parliament.

The organisation has been endorsed by former Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron. It has also been endorsed by former Liberal Democrat Party Leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. In 2009, Brown described the UK Youth Parliament as "a symbol of the politics we should all strive for politics that bring people together to work for what is best for us all." In 2006, the organisation's Head of Programmes Kate Parish was given a National Council for Voluntary Youth Services Award, for her "commendable dedication to the development of UK Youth Parliament". In 2008, the UK Youth Parliament was given the Positive Images award by the Children & Young People Now magazine for exposing young people's experiences of the current levels of sex and relationships education in a high profile publicity campaign. In 2009, the organisation also received a Brook special achievement award for this campaign.

A study by the University of Colorado found that youth participation organisations in the UK, including the UK Youth Parliament, needed to "tackle the unintentional practice of tokenism". The paper concludes that "failing to act upon [young people's] opinions or take them very seriously" once they are identified is often a cause of frustration amongst participants.