CYEC News

On arrival to Westminster Abbey, we were signed in and went through security, had our photo taken and given a lanyard with our visitor pass. We then made our way to a room to get signed in by the CYEC staff and began chatting to the other people we would be spending our day with.

The morning began with a welcome to the event by Vic Craggs from CYEC and we were introduced to the host for the day John Loughton, who some recognised from Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, who would be taking us through a fun filled informative day. We were also introduced to Andrew Tuggey, Secretary for the UK branch of the CPA, who explained his position and how he was there to hear our views on the commonwealth and ideas for improvements.

We were then introduced to David Broom who spoke to us about the what the CPA are and what they do in the commonwealth; the CPA is a group of parliamentarians who discuss , share and learn from each other and are united by the positives of parliamentary democracy.
The projector was then set up and Karen Saunders, Higher executive officer for the Table Office, explained the table office and how Prime Ministers Questions worked. We sat down as she explained what was going on as we were watching. Is seemed to start off well before the party’s began to get personal, then we watched what seemed like a soap opera ensue before our eyes.

This lead on to Danny Sriskandarajah, Director for the Royal Commonwealth Society. He explained that the RCS was a charity that promotes international understanding across the Commonwealth, especially among young people. He explained that the charity had recently made a document from the Commonwealth Conversation, with a summary of recommendations. The creation of the document was also helped by national surveys and polls, and we were each given a copy to take with. The document is very young people friendly, 6 pages long, and contains a lot of information about the commonwealth.

After the morning lectures and question sessions on the Commonwealth, we then had a buffet lunch, which British and Commonwealth MPs also attended. This gave us an excellent opportunity to discuss the issues addressed to us that morning and begin thinking of our own stance, whilst learning more about the role of the Commonwealth and young people in other countries. Intermingling with the different politicians, of course while munching on the quite frankly delicious food, we debated on issues ranging from young people’s role and reputation in British society, current issues addressing the UN and engaging with other attendees on how they became involved with the Commonwealth. This unique opportunity to talk with passionate politicians on a one to one basis left us well prepped for the afternoon question and answer session.

After lunch we had the opportunity to put questions about the Commonwealth and young people to a panel. Firstly the young people attending split into three groups to discuss possible issues. We decided on “root” values of the Commonwealth that make it valid in the 21st century and then proceeded to “wishes”: questions on how the Commonwealth has acted in the past and how it will continue to develop and improve in the future. When these had been agreed on we regrouped with the panel: Anne Gammon, member of the Commonwealth Youth Forum; Stephen Crabb, MP for Pembrokeshire; Baroness Scott, President of the Liberal Democrats and Zoe Ware, Commonwealth Affairs Manager at the Royal Commonwealth Society. The questions and wishes for the panel were written on paper leaves and hung on a tree.

To start, people stood up and read out their “roots”. Once these values had been established we moved on to the questions. A prominent issue that arose was the question of who should succeed the Queen as head of the Commonwealth. The position is not automatically hereditary, but it will be difficult to appoint a figure that carries the same symbolism and affection as Queen Elizabeth II. There were also many suggestions to raise the currently low profile of the Commonwealth through events or actions other than the Commonwealth Games. We found that many of the questions came down to young people’s attitude to politics, which as Baroness Scott put it was not voter apathy but voter’s anger at a corrupt system. She explained that regaining young people’s trust would take time, but the main solution suggested by the panel was if young people are unhappy then they must take control and try to change things themselves. This was a message that was taken away by all who attended.

By Obinna Okeke, Rachel Tookey and Kate Edwards
MAP Project Kingston – Making Adventure Possible