The Youth Parliament doesn’t get our vote of confidence
THE UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) receives an annual six-figure grant from the Department of Education, and additional funding from local authorities — £27,000 a year in Shropshire alone. While receiving this money, it is, we believe, in breach of basic democratic principles, despite being an organisation that claims to champion them. UKYP claims to represent all young people in the UK, but most young people have never heard of it. Turnout for its elections hovers around the 20 per cent mark and information is not easily available as to who may stand and when, restricting the choice of candidates to a narrow clique already involved with local authorities. In our opinion, UKYP is undemocratic: the whole county of Surrey has just one member, compared with one for every borough of London. Additionally, its elections would appear to be wide open to fraud, by those who can easily vote on multiple occasions, using the texting system, from outside the constituency, or when above the maximum age. We reckon that the expenses claimed by UKYP members — including taxis to and from meetings, free food, and parties for MYPs — are astronomical. UKYP won’t accept dissent. It attempts to bar manifestos from any candidates who criticise the organisation, allowing only a range of views in keeping with its overall agenda. Despite such apparent wastefulness and disregard for democracy, UKYP claims to have influence on local councils and with MPs, exercising considerable lobbying power. If this organisation isn’t to be wound up then its elections must be free, fair and well-advertised, and UKYP must make itself far more transparent. We don’t expect it to change within the two weeks before the national February elections, but we do hope that it will use the year ahead to reform itself — or the Government will cease to fund it.
HARRY FORBES, Marlborough, Wilts, and MATTHEW BURTON, Oswestry, Shropshire.