Celia votes for Youth Parliament

Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, Celia Barlow, joined fellow MPs in voting to allow the UK Youth Parliament to use the House of Commons chamber for their annual debate for the first time ever.

The UK Youth Parliament - whose 500 members are aged between 11 and 18 - requested to use the chamber for their annual meeting, which is due to be held this summer during Parliamentary Recess.

The meeting will be a one off event after the MYPs met in the House of Lords last year. The move was resisted by a handful of MPs who said it would abandon Commons' traditions and set a precedent for other groups.

Celia said:

"I am delighted to be able to vote for the UK Youth Parliament in this momentus decision. The significance of their efforts to engage young people in politics cannot be underestimated, and all MPs need to recognise and support them.'

Celia also spoke of her disappointment that a number of MPs voted against the motion.  One particularly vocal member in opposition was Christopher Chope, the Conservative MP for Christchurch and former Shadow Minister for Environment & Transport. Mr Chope said that the move sent out a message that there was a similarity between a ‘mock parliament and a real parliament'. Mr Chope also argued that: ‘It would be pandering to what they see as populism, grossly indulgent and an insult to all those people who have honoured this Chamber in times past, who would be nervous about seeing a dangerous precended for the future. " 

Conservative MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, also opposed the decision saying that, ‘This is a gesture - it is gesture politics of the worst kind.'

The Youth Parliament, established in 1999, says it works to provide opportunities for teenagers to use their voice to bring about social change.