UK Youth Parliament praised for its diversity

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has praised the UK Youth Parliament for its high level of representation of gender and ethnicity in stark contrast to the chamber in which British Parliamentarians sit. The Youth Parliament is meeting today in the Commons chamber for a second year.

Commenting on the contrast between the Commons the UK Youth Parliament Mr Bercow said: "I have always been struck by the fact that 50% of you or thereabouts are female, approximately 20% of you are from black and minority ethnic communities and approximately 10% of you have some form of disability.


"So in terms of representing the kaleidoscope of modern society the UK Youth Parliament does it very impressively and does it in a way from which the elected House of Commons itself can learn."

As part of the now yearly visit by the Members of the Youth Parliament (MYP) they will be debating issues of relevance to young people. One item on the agenda is tuition fees and MYPs will be debating and voting the motion "should university tuition fees rise?".