On the 14^th December 2016, West Worcestershire Labour Young Members held a Youth Policy event at Malvern Cube. The purpose of this event was to develop proposals for Labour’s policy for young people, nationally through Young Labour National Committee and National Policy Forums, and locally for our County Council election manifesto. It was an opportunity for members and supporters of all ages to discuss how the Labour Party can address young people’s hopes and concerns and gain their support.

West Worcestershire Constituency Labour Party’s Youth Officer, Holly Lambeth, chaired the event. She opened the event by explaining why she joined the labour party and what makes her angry about politics today. Two further youth members also spoke passionately about their reasons for joining Labour and what makes them angry. It was clear from their speeches that far from being disengaged with politics, young people are very frustrated about their voices not being heard.

The attendees were split into two groups to discuss Housing and Transport, and Jobs and Education. The youth members were distributed between the two groups to lead the discussions. The multi-generational sharing was particularly helpful in developing ideas to go forward as policy. The youth members could learn from the older members experience and the successes of past policies. The older members were able get an insight into the struggles that young people face today.

The discussions were so enthusiastic it was difficult to get everyone to come back together! However, it was good to have time to report back to the group with ideas for possible policies.