Our young people – our future

THE highlight of my last week was attending a Youth Council event in the council chamber of the Wokingham Borough Council Offices at Shute End. I listened to excellent questions from the young people in the audience to a panel of party representatives.

The young people present asked the panellists about their views on the voting age (should it be lowered to 16); the cost-of-living crisis and what the council was doing to help; mental health problems for young people, and how to tackle them; and the climate emergency.

Members of the Youth Council gave very moving accounts of the subjects that most concerned them - poverty, mental health, and becoming involved in developing the borough vision of what Wokingham should be like over the next few years.

I was struck by the maturity of the contributions from the young people and their passionate commitment to making Wokingham (and the world) a better place.

I was also struck by my deputy leader Stephen Conway’s observation (he was a panel member) that we needed to hear the voice of young people more loudly, as they represented the future. I couldn’t agree more.

Liberal Democrats want young people to be more involved in local politics, so it addresses their priorities and not just those of their parents and grandparents.

The key is for young people to recognise the power that comes with voting. Politicians - of all parties - are much more inclined to listen to people who turn out to vote than those who don’t use their votes.

Moved

The event last week began with party representatives giving a brief statement of what their party was about. All those present, Stephen for the Lib Dems, and spokespersons for the Tories, Labour, and the Greens, put their cases well.

But I’m sure you’ll understand that I was particularly moved by Stephen’s pitch for the Lib Dems.

“The Lib Dems,” he said in his opening statement, “Believe that everyone deserves to be given the chance to reach their true potential, regardless of their race or ethnicity, sex or gender, or wealth and social status.

“That benefits individuals by giving them the opportunity to live happy and fulfilled lives, and it benefits society by making the most of the talent available to make us as a community more innovative, more dynamic, and more prosperous.

“To achieve opportunity for all we have to break down the barriers to people realising their potential. That means raising people out of poverty, where the struggle to make ends meet squeezes out time and energy to improve oneself. That means giving everybody the best education they can receive. That means fighting prejudice of all kinds that block people from achieving their best.

“We want a society where people are judged not by the colour of their skin, or the faith they hold, or who they love, or the size of their bank balance, but the goodness of their character.”

Those words summed up my core belief, and I hope yours.

The whole event lifted my spirits and made me feel that the future is bright and hopeful. With so many thoughtful, engaged and interesting young people in our community, how could it be otherwise?