| Inner-City Children get a taste of political life with David Lammy MP. |
| Friday, 02 June 2006 |
David Lammy yesterday welcomed five children from across London to the House of Commons to ask questions and discuss with him the topic: “Old enough to smoke, old enough to vote”.
The event was part of ‘Into University’ which is an education scheme for children and young people from the inner city who may be at risk of failing to meet their potential to go to university. The scheme provides an integrated programme of activities supporting our users academically and pastorally, as well as building confidence, motivation and self-esteem. It is funded by the Sutton Trust and J.P. Morgan - David Lammy is also proud to be a patron.
This half-term Into University ran a Media Studies FOCUS Week for 20 young people aged 11-15. They enjoyed educational, experiential activities giving them a deeper knowledge and interest in the subject than they may have experienced at school. They were also introduced to the idea of university in a fun and accessible context and at the end of the week attended a Graduation at the University of Westminster.
Each team had a topic to research as a news/feature story and the young people were competing to see how much media coverage they could achieve through their own press release.
Please click here to see the press release written by the young people before they attended the meeting.
Since becoming MP for Tottenham David Lammy has been keen to open up and involve more young people in politics. He has especially concentrated on young people who come from inner city backgrounds and may have negative preconceptions about Westminster and politicians in general.
The five young people that visited David tackled a range of issues, including race, the importance of going to university and young people and politics.
David commented:
“Young people are political, young people care about issues and they have strong views. It is up to politicians like me to listen to them and take their views seriously. I would like to thank Sala, Izaak, Nadia, Danielle and Laura who asked such excellent questions as well as all those involved in setting up and sponsoring this excellent project.”
This meeting comes as part of a concerted effort by David Lammy to widen access to and interest in politics. It has included working with Ms Dynamite on gun crime and inviting Alicia Keys to the House of Commons - showing that politicians can reach out to young people and engage with the issues that matter to them.
Afterwards one of the young people: Sala aged 14 said:
"I think David Lammy should be the first Black Prime Minister, he really understands young people. Before I met him I thought politicians weren’t interested in me and the BNP’s attitude makes me think I’m not wanted in this country. David Lammy reminded me that this is MY country! He was cool!"
This interview was covered by the Guardian on 6th June 2006. Please click here to read the article.
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