Borough’s young people make their mark in national vote

Louis Tweedale, Member of Youth Parliament for the Rochdale borough

Mental health was voted as the top priority for the borough’s young people as a tremendous 6,712 votes were cast in this year’s ‘Make Your Mark’ event.

‘Make Your Mark’ is a national event which gives young people a say on what should be debated by the Youth Parliament on the green benches of the House of Commons. This year it saw 1.1milion young people take part, making it one of the largest youth consultations in UK history.

Rochdale Youth Cabinet drove the response locally, making sure that schools across the borough were engaged in the event. The council’s youth service facilitated the huge range of activity the young people got involved in to promote the event. Their efforts were rewarded with 30.62% turnout, significantly higher than the 18.80% national turnout.

Councillor Kieran Heakin, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “Well done to all the youth cabinet for driving the campaign and well done to everyone who made their mark. It’s great to see so many young people engaged in democracy and having their say on important issues. The passion of the young people is infectious and I know they will make great waves in tackling the issues they’ve voted on.”

Seventeen-year-old Member of Youth Parliament for Rochdale, Louis Tweedale, who attends Rochdale Sixth Form College, led the campaign in Rochdale and said; “This has been fantastic to be part of and I’m really proud of all the young people who made their mark and got their voices heard. We’re already achieving great things for young people in the borough and, with strength in numbers, together we can all achieve even more.”

Rochdale voted mental health as their top priority; here are the top five priorities:

• Mental health
• Put an end to knife crime
• Equal pay for equal work
• Let’s tackle homelessness
• Curriculum to prepare us for life

The youth council has already done a vast amount on the topic of young people’s mental health with one notable achievement being securing new mental health bereavement workers to work across the borough, one of which specialises in supporting children in care. They are also currently planning a week of action around mental health in December to help signpost young people on support that’s available and ways to get help.

Louis will be attending the House of Commons on 9 November 2018 when the five topics will be debated by the Youth Parliament.