HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE
What is the House of Commons Debate?
The House of Commons debate is an annual event that takes place in Parliament ran by UK Youth Parliament. The event provides the opportunity for Members of Youth Parliament to debate the top five issues chosen in the Make Your Mark consultation by young people. After all five topics have been debated, MYP's cast their vote on which issue should be prioritised for the year ahead.
2019
In 2019, Members of Youth Parliament Kamran Khan and Renée Samra visited the House of Commons for the Annual Sitting.
Topics for debate were selected from the preceding Make Your Mark consultation, which included Curriculum for Life, Hate Crime, Mental Health, Knife Crime and Protecting the Environment.
- Mariam Sohail MYP speaking on Work Experience Hubs
2018
"When we talk about homelessness, we're not talking about percentage. We're talking about real people, individual lives."
- Mariam Sohail MYP speaking on Tackling Homelessness
2018 Debate
In 2018, MYPs Mariam Sohail and Renée Samra once again went to London for the House of Commons debate, organised by UK Youth Parliament. They were supported by our chair Zara Khan.
For a second year, Mariam was chosen again by the Speaker of the House of Commons to have her say on "Tackling Homelessness".
MYPs have prioritised Knife Crime and Votes at 16 as the top two issues to campaign on over the next year.
2017 Debate
2017
"Work experience should be integrated into a high quality careers education programme within all schools throughout the UK."
- Mariam Sohail MYP speaking on Work Experience Hubs
Last year, MYPs Mariam Sohail and Renée Samra visited London for the House of Commons debate, organised by UK Youth Parliament. During the morning session, Mariam was chosen by the Speaker of the House of Commons to have her say on Work Experience Hubs.
Sadly, Renée missed out on the opportunity to speak, but we decided to record her views on Curriculum for Life.
At the end of the debate, MYP's chose Votes at 16 and Curriculum for Life, which were two of the issues on the ballot in the 2017 Make Your Mark consultation.
2016
"Can you tell me that you can walk out into your local neighbourhood and honestly say that racism and religious discrimination have truly been addressed?"
- Joscel Manirambona, former MYP opposing the motion of Racism and Religious Discrimination
2016 Debate
In 2016, Joscel Manirambona was chosen to oppose the motion of Tackling Racism and Religious Discrimination, one of the five topics chosen in the Make Your Mark ballot in that year. His speech addressed the law, the statistics of racially motivated crimes in 2013-14. He addressed the things UK Youth Parliament has already done on the issue. Ben Sharpe, an MYP at the time, was also in attendance at the debate.
Curriculum for Life (devolved) and Votes at 16 (UK wide) were chosen as the top two priorities for 2016/17.
2015 Debate
2015
“1.8 million”, am I talking about the population of a city? Perhaps I am talking about the number of selfies Kim Kardashian takes in a day. No - I am referring to how many young people suffer from a mental health illness, with more than 50% of those being under 14.
- Namir Chowdhury, debate lead for Mental Health
In 2015, Namir Chowdhury was chosen to lead the debate on Mental Health. His speech included recent statistics, the Make Your Mark ballot and his story on mentoring someone who struggled to cope with every day life. He called for the Youth Parliament to challenge mental health awareness and approach the issue "as human beings". Joscel Manirambona was also in attendance at the debate.
"Working together to tackle racism and religious discrimination" (UK wide) and "Mental Health services should be improved with our help" (devolved) were chosen as the top two priorities for 2015/16.