Giving young people a voice

Oliver Tomlin has been part of Medway Youth Council since the age of 11. Now he's turned 18, what does he do next?

The UK Youth Parliament exists to give young people a voice in democracy, and until recently, Oliver Tomlin was Medway’s representative on it. With his term now over and the Youth Parliament itself going through its own difficulties, what does a young person interested in politics do next?

Medway Youth Parliament representative Oliver Tomlin

Oliver Tomlin got involved in politics early, joining the Medway Youth Council (MYC) when he was 11. At his Holcombe School, he was part of the anti-bullying ambassadors, and the school sent him to a conference on bullying being run by the Youth Council to represent the school. “I was really small. I sat at the front, next to two reserved seats, which was the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor”, he recalls. During the conference, there was a Q&A panel which included newly elected Conservative Group Leader George Perfect, who was MYC chair at the time. “I talked to him, and he said I should definitely join up.” Oliver was living in Cliff Woods at the time and, encouraged by other MYC members like Craig Liddell, took a friend and started attending.

“The Youth Council is kind of like a forum for Youth Parliament members to gather the thoughts of young people in Medway”, Oliver explains. Just as with the ‘adult’ council and parliament, the youth versions cover local and national, respectively. Behind every Youth Parliament member, there is a Youth Council supporting them, and Medway should have had two members. However, Oliver was elected in an interim position because one representative had dropped out. “They felt it was a bit too much for them. It's a lot of organisation to do”, he remembers. The other had left for university. Oliver is keen to highlight that they work at a massive scale, organising ‘Make Your Mark’ and Youth Parliament elections and “schools do get a bit fed up.”