Youth MP’s Commons day
A YOUNG Asian activist was among a group of teenagers to speak from the dispatch box in the Commons, where he raised the issue of climate change.
Dev Sharma, 17, is a youth MP for Winchester in Hampshire and part of the UK Youth Parliament group made up of democratically elected members aged between 11 and 18.
He joined around 250 fellow youth MPs from across the UK invited to debate topics related to health in the Commons chamber last month.
The debate was watched by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as the young activists called for greater action to tackle climate change and other pressing issues of the day.
“No country and no economy is immune from the climate crisis. Almost undoubtedly, you have heard that we or humanity, is to blame for the climate crisis,” said Sharma, tabling the motion entitled ‘Environment and Health’ during UK Youth Parliament Day.
The Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) are elected every two years across the UK, and there are currently hundreds of MYPs like Sharma. Once elected, they meet MPs and local councillors, organise events, run campaigns, make speeches, and hold debates to make the views of young people heard.
This year, they sat in the Commons for the 11th time on November 4 and discussed four other topics besides the environment, including the impact of discrimination on health, education and health, cost of living and health and mental health services.
Leicester-based Sharma, who is also chair of Bite Back 2030 – a youth-led movement campaigning for all young people to be given equal access to a good diet – has won the Diana Award for his activism on food poverty.