On the 12th of February the six UK Young Ambassadors and the EU consultation teams from across the country travelled to Brussels, home of the European Parliament and European Commission. In the delegation from Scotland were Andrew Deans MSYP (Scotland’s UK Young Ambassador), Louise Cameron MSYP, former MSYP Aime Jaffray and Katherine Vezza, SYP Youth Engagement Worker.

Over the weekend the team visited the European Parliament and its new visitor centre (where they engaged in a simulation of the work of an MEP, met the “Jongerenambassadeurs voor Participatie” (our counterparts from the Flemish part of Belgium), went to the European Youth Forum HQ and got know more about their role. Louise Cameron says: “Brussels was such an amazing experience, really putting into action what young people can do. After collating all the results from the consultations it was great to have so many views from young people, expressing their opinions and making the positive change in the UK.”

“The weekend could not have been planned better. Getting to do a role play as “MEP for a day” was such an amazing opportunity. We got to witness the life of an MEP through a huge area of rooms specially designed for the role playing activites. We experienced how hard the language barriers can make an MEP’s job and got a taste of trying to bargain with the other parties to win what we thought our party would want.”

“Another highlight of my weekend was meeting the Flemish Young Ambassadors in the European Parliament and discussing all the matters that are different in Belgium and the UK, and the ones that are similar that we feel the need to act on. It was amazing to hear the views of people who already have love equality and now have had a country for the past 10 years which supports it.”

“The Scottish team were well known by the end of the weekend for our closeness, jokes and our karaoke! We got along so well and I don’t think I could have asked for better people to go away with. We were involved with such an amazing group of young people, the UKYA’s really have been well picked as they are all friendly, approachable and hardworking, as well as the staff who have been amazing before, during and after the trip.”

“We discussed so many matters affecting our different nations and it was interesting to hear the viewpoints on many matters affecting the individual nations, and the whole of the UK. If anyone does get involved in UKYA they have many pleasant experiences ahead of them – I would love to repeat the experience again because it really was planned to perfection.”

Three of the UKYAs will now attend an EU Presidency conference in Denmark in March to discuss young people’s participation in politics (including votes at 16), before the whole UK consultation team engages in another massive exercise in asking young people their views on the topic of inclusion for a conference in Cyprus in Autumn, which Andrew will be attending.

I recently had the opportunity to go down to London to film with Channel 4 as part of their 4thought series from a young person’s perspective on Equal Marriage. This was a great day and also special that I got to put my views across on the campaigns that I have been working on for the past two years. The interview was about my views and what I thought about the religious bodies being opposed to same-sex marriage and also about how I felt about marriage as an individual from the LGBT community. As you will see from my interview I have always wanted a white wedding but also I see that if religious bodies are opposed to performing same-sex marriage then they should not be forced to do so. Check out my interview and the other interviews from the series by clicking here .

As a representative for LGBT National Youth Council we have been working on our campaign called M.E 2 (Marriage Equality 2) we have held a symposium in partnership with the Equality Network, held a photo petition on Equal Marriage and also a 10k run to raise awareness of Equal Marriage.

Becoming an MSYP was a great opportunity for me to get the young people’s voice’s heard and the main issue that was arising was Marriage Equality and when the ‘Love Equally’ campaign became SYP’s national campaign. I was so proud to be a part of both organisations fighting for the same cause. Love Equally has gained so much support around Scotland and also hit the headlines in many news rooms across Scotland and the publicity towards the campaign has been great in many areas clearly showing that young people’s voice’s are being listened too.

2011 ended with a massive push to ensure a massive positive response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on same-sex marriage and with over 50,000 responses I think we did a pretty decent job! 2012 kicked off with a busy start and I have been spreading the word a lot about Equal Marriage and also doing a few other bits and pieces for LGBT Youth Scotland.

In October I also spoke at a fringe event at the SNP Conference in Inverness alongside Austin Sheridan MSYP which was sponsored by Alyn Smith MEP. We spoke about the Love Equally campaign and I also presented a speech to represent young people’s views on the subject of marriage. We then had a question-and-answer session where the people got to ask us questions or give us there thoughts on marriage. The event was packed full of MSPs, journalists and members of the public and we had a few negative comments but all in all the event went really well and we got so many supporters from it.

The Love Equally and M.E 2 campaigns have brought Scotland to a place of better understanding of equality and what needs to change and hopefully in the not too distant future it will change. As an MSYP I hope that we all keep up the hard work and maintain the belief that Scotland will change, keep campaigning and educate people on the issues that young people face every day. Hope you are all excited for the Love Equally March on Valentine’s Day and of course the March sitting and hope to see you all there!

By Grant Costello MSYP, SYP Chair

It’s been a busy New Year for the SYP but we of course would have it no other way! The news has been quoting us, the calls have been coming in left, right and centre and best of all our campaign is starting to get the continued attention that it has long deserved. As many of you will be aware the staff team and I have been working night and day to try and ensure that our “Love Equally” message is getting spread far and wide across Scotland and with our campaigning partners (LGBT Youth Scotland, NUS Scotland’s LGBT Campaign, Stonewall Scotland and the Equality Network). I am so pleased to say that this message is spreading and this will be so important come the day, February 14th when we all march down the Royal Mile in support of equal marriage and the right of people who are in love to be treated and respected in the same way. I cannot wait to see every single one of you there!

But the media hasn’t been my only focus for our campaign. I have been trying to work with young people, Scottish Government Ministers and civil servants, our partner organisations and MSPs in general. I have been busy attending LGBT Youth Scotland’s consultation event in Edinburgh, a fantastic event where I got the chance to have a strong and in-depth conversion with the civil servant heading up the review of this Scottish Government’s Same Sex Marriage Consultation. I’ve also been meeting with MSPs such as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie MSP, the SNP’s Linda Fabiani MSP, Fiona McLeod MSP and the Minister for Children and Young People Aileen Campbell MSP and the former Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party Annabel Goldie, to ensure that the support for this important campaign remains strong and high on the agenda. I have meet with Tom French from the Equality Network numerous times and took part in a press conference held live from the SYP’s own offices further promoting our campaign.

I have attended many different Parliamentary groups and events such as an consultation event held by Jackie Baillie MSP on the Welfare Reform Bill going through Westminster and an important meeting of the Children and Young People’s Cross Party Group on the same topic. Many of these events have been important networking events that will hopefully prove important to the SYP in the every near future as we continue to grow and grow faster than we could even have expected.

In recent months we have had Andrew Deans MSYP, Austin Sheridan MSYP as well as myself and many others, all in numerous newspapers or internet articles, illustrating to all the doubters out there of the passion and ability of all MSYPs in the SYP. But to ensure this continues this restructuring will be essential. Recently I brought onto the SYP Board as an unpaid advisor Scott Douglas, someone who has been in the centre of the media and PR for 25 years. He will become invaluable as together as an organisation we evolve into an even more power voice for the young people of Scotland.

Another important announcement comes as our Sitting nears very close, with the sitting review all done and dusted it was very clear that Members Motions were a massive hit but we just didn’t have the time to get through all the excellent Motions that we had. Therefore I can announce that at the March Sitting we will have an increased time limit on the Members Motions. This is a vitally important part of our sittings as it allows us as the membership of the SYP to bring forward the many concerns of our constituents and make solutions to these problems SYP core policy.

As you will all know the SYP had our official office opening and it was a massive success with so many important members of civic Scotland joining us at our offices and the newly appointed Minister for Children and Young people in attendance to open our offices was a real honour. But the biggest congratulations must go out to all the pass, present and future MSYPs of this organisation. Without young people so passionate like we MSYPs the SYP would not exists. This celebration was the opening of a new chapter for the Scottish Youth Parliament, but also a landmark of celebration for the passion and effort put in by all MSYPs in the decade that we have existed.

With the Scottish Government’s intention to give 16 and 17 year olds the vote in the referendum I have been extremely busy working with all of our partner organisations, the staff and of course the media to ensure that the Scottish Youth Parliament’s position is very clear. This has been very difficult but the rewards of our efforts are being seen with the media attention our support for votes at 16 for the referendum and all future elections has been drawing up. We need to be very clear to every that we at the SYP believe in votes at 16 and we want to see the young people of Scotland not just have their say in a one-off referendum but in all future elections and referendums.

I have also been working a lot closer with Amnesty International Scotland to develop an important relationship. Their help with getting out our “Love Equally” message has been very helpful and I can promise every member of the SYP that for as long as I am your chair that I will continue to work tirelessly to continue to develop strong and long lasting networks for the SYP and future generations of MSYPs to use and evolve our organisation.

Hi my name is Laurie, I am 15 and on my work experience at the “Scottish Youth Parliament”(SYP). As a young person with a very big interest in politics, I was very excited about the chance to work with the SYP as it is a democractically elected youth-led organisation which ensures young people’s opinions are considered in parliament and other decision making organisations across Scotland.

My experience at the Scottish Youth Parliament has been very interesting and enjoyable. On the first day I was given an introduction to my week and interesting and fun activities had been organised for each day. During my week I attended events at the debating chamber, Skills Development Scotland in Glasgow and I filmed a clip about my time at the SYP. I enjoyed all these activities and couldn’t wait to go back to the office the next day.

I was very excited to go into the debating chamber as my ambition is to be a politician so I listened intently as the debates went on and thoroughly enjoyed it. On the 4th day I was taken to Glasgow for a “Skills Development Scotland” event where I stood at the stand and talked to young people explaining what our campaign was and why we were there. There was a general buzz around the building so I was very excited about everything. On that day we got 300 responses from young people saying that they thought that people of all sexual orientations should have equal marriage rights. This really moved me as I thought that most people were very sceptical on this issue but most people seemed open to supporting the campaign. I was also given a number of tasks to complete such as: colour coding an SYP vote, filling envelopes of “love equally” postcards and filming a video about my experience and the curriculum for excellence. Steven, the Development Manager suggested that we make a video about my experience working here and also explaining what the curriculum for excellence was.

On my first day I started by having input in a “Jargon Buster” on the SYPs website which aimed to define complicated words to make them more youth friendly so young people could understand them by scrolling over the word. I even learnt new words! I then had a talk to the Chief Officer Hamira Khan about the representation of the youth parliament as compared to the other parliaments. I was surprised to find that the SYP have a very varied representation of members. Women represented 41% of the the SYP and Scotland’s population for 14-25 range has 51% male and 49%. This is very good in comparison to the Scottish parliament which has only 34% women. It also had a varied representation of the area’s people live in, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and disability. This is very good as it shows that the SYP can work with many different types of young people so will be more compassionate towards different young groups.

The staff were really nice and were always available to answer questions or have conversations, which created a warm lively working atmosphere. The SYP staff kitchen had a microwave so I was able to take in food and heat up so I had a more enjoyable lunch.

I really wanted to get into the SYP but unfortunately my interest had come a bit late as the elections had just taken place so I have to wait another 18 months before I can run for election. However an opportunity may have arisen to become MSYP representative for Scripture Union Scotland as I had many connections with them, so there is still a possibility I could become part of the SYP! I was gutted to be leaving this workforce because it was so fun and interesting and has strengthened my idea that I definitely do want to be in politics.

I really enjoyed my week and would recomnend anyone to sign up and consider doing their work experience placement here.

The SYP tour has now finally begun as Marie Gallagher and I travel all over Scotland to the different regions delivering SYP training and giving you face to face updates on what’s going on in SYP, opportunities available to you at that time and a chance to get to know the other MSYPs in your region. So far two tour events have been held with Marie and I going to Inverurie, where we received over 30 consultation responses in under an hour, and board trustee Jordan Linden and Marie Gallagher attended the SYP event held at Ayr. With a good number of events to go I can’t wait to get down or up to all your arenas and get some good old fashioned campaigning done, with a little bit of a laugh and free food thrown into the bargain.

The Cross Party Group on Children and Young People, on which I serve as Vice-Convener for, held its last meeting in the Parliament on the 29th of September where we looked into the current Welfare Reform Bill that is going through the Westminster. It was expressed that we as a whole Cross Party Group had serious concerns that the bill have many ill effects for families’ children and especially lone parent families’ children in Scotland. Our report went to the Scottish Government and days latter the Government passed a motion refusing to give legislative consent to the bill. While this is truly only a symbolic measure it does send the UK Government the message that there are flaws, we feel, within the bill and hope that it will be changed before implementation.

In September, YouthLink Scotland held a national summit where many different youth organisation came together to develop a communiqué to be sent to the Government discussing the position of Youth Work Services. I attended the event on behalf of the SYP and it was a brilliant event where both Annabel Goldie and the Secretary of State for Justice Kenny McAskill attended. I spoke about how, in my opinion, Youth work breeds diversity into our society and how without it young people would lose the chance to expand their interests and themselves as a people.

Renfrewshire Youth Voice invited me to attend an event where they were honouring the young people in their local area for the fantastic work that they have been doing. Awards ranging from young musician of the year to young career of the young. It was an honour to be invited to the event and asked to present an award. Thank you to all the members of RYV and once again congratulations to all the winners.

This coming Wednesday, thanks to recent partnership work between myself and a charity known as Open Door, I secured places for two West Lothian MSYPs, David Leitch and Allanah Peters, to attend and speak at Open Door’s AGM.

Finally I was on Brian Taylor’s Big Debate last week representing the SYP. It was an amazing experience and the feedback we have received has been excellent. I hope you had the chance to tune in and listen.

The October Sitting is only weeks away and I can’t wait to see you all again in North Ayrshire. I have been sending you out information about the sitting in dribs and drabs over the last few weeks and as you can see it is going to be a jam packed agenda. I’ll see you all there. If you have any questions please feel free to ask us on day, or if you have any feedback or questions in advance of the meeting please email me grant.costello.msyp@sypmail.org.uk

Hopefully, you’ll have enjoyed Keenan, Kelley and Grant’s blogs recently – if you’ve got a burning issue and you want to tell everyone about, this is the place to do it!

We’re looking for blog posts from as many MSYPs as we can, so if you’d like to write about an issue close to your heart, we’d be delighted to post it here.

So if you’ve got an idea for something you’d like to blog about, send it to Hamira Khan at hamira.k@syp.org.uk

• It can be about a local issue you want to bring to national attention, something in the news, or just your thoughts on an issue that you care about – anything goes within reason!

• Ideally, it should be about 400-500 words in length, although if it’s a wee bit shorter or longer than this that should be fine as well.

• Make sure you spell-check it. It sounds obvious, but if there’s lots of spelling and grammatical errors then people will end up looking for them rather than reading what you have to say!

• We reserve the right to edit your post, but we’ll try and avoid doing this unless there are major problems with it, as we want your views in your own words.

And that’s about it! Send your blog posts to hamira.k@syp.org.uk – and the stage could be yours!

It is a great testament to the hard work of young people in Scotland and MSYPs across the country that the Love Equally campaign has really put the issue of equal marriage on the national agenda. This morning the SYP office was the venue for a press conference for representatives from religious communities in Scotland, who wanted the opportunity to explain why many religious organisations wanted the option and opportunity to conduct same sex marriages.

I found the conference to be a really exciting and refreshing opportunity to hear the perspective of a number of faith groups. Speaking were senior figures from religious organisations such as the Quakers, Unitarians, the Pagan Federation, Liberal Judaism, the Metropolitan Community Church and the Buddhist Community of Interbeing.

Reporters were asking questions about the concerns religious organisations have about being ‘forced’ to conduct same sex marriage. The groups present were very clear that the campaign is not about forcing religious groups to do anything, but about empowering them to conduct same sex marriages if they want to.

I was particularly interested in the view put forward that the current prohibition of same sex marriage is actually a violation of religious freedom. If we consider the exceptions which religious organisations currently enjoy, such as in employment law, for the state to prevent religious organisations conducting marriages between their members is improper, and not the place of the state.

These religious organisations were very clear in their frustration that they can not currently not honour long term committed relationships for people of the same gender in the same way they can between a woman and a man. It was very refreshing as an MSYP to speak to these religious organisations and realise the scope and depth of the support for the Love Equally campaign, which helped to bring the Scottish Government Consultation forward. The mandate which young people in Scotland have given the Scottish Youth Parliament to fight for equal marriage is well on its way to being fulfilled – and I am sure the Scottish Government have taken note. It was an honour to be involved with the event and we are delighted that religious organisations are throwing their weight behind the campaign.

We are still concerned that the government consultation doesn’t address the issue of heterosexual or people of the opposite gender being able to obtain a civil partnership and since we believe in equal rights for all, young people in Scotland want to see this option being made available. The press conference this morning was really inspiring and I know I am really keen that the Scottish Government takes notice of the opinions of religious groups who want the right to perform same sex marriage, and equal marriage for all.

Recently the lack of coverage of the ever growing disaster in the Horn of Africa has really annoyed me. It’s typical of the society that we live in – out of sight, out of mind! I wanted to take this opportunity to bring it back to the forefront of people’s minds and to make some points on the issue.

Let’s be absolutely clear, this crisis isn’t getting any better. I watched a debate in the House of Commons on Food Security in Africa and many Members, from both sides of the house, made some very interesting points.

It’s very easy to respond to a crisis once it has hit. However, we’re not as good at preventing them. Alison McGovern, MP for Wirral South, said that we have a “moral responsibility to those most in need.” Frankly, I couldn’t have put it better myself. We hear of people, although thankfully they are in the minority, talking the crisis down. Andrea Leadsom, MP for South Northamptonshire, spoke about letters she has received from constituents who feel that it’s a waste of money and that “charity begins at home.” This level of ignorance is astounding. As someone who has experienced the poverty in Africa first hand, hearing statements like that really upsets me. Yes, times are hard in the UK. Yes, we face some public spending cuts and yes, one in four children in Scotland are living in poverty. Whilst in an ideal world this wouldn’t be the case, at least we have a Government who is working to tackle these issues.

In Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya a state of famine has been declared. I think the word famine is batted about too easily. A famine occurs when thirty percent of children in a country are “acutely malnourished.” So yes, things may seem difficult here in the UK, but there’s no comparison really!

This leads me to my second point. It’s a well known fact that democracies have far fewer famines than countries which don’t have democracy. Why is it then, that we aren’t taking action against the corrupt governments around the world, and particularly in Africa? Pauline Latham, MP for Mid Derbyshire and a member of the International Development Select Committee, spoke of the need to tackle corruption. Sadly, corruption exists at every level of society in many developing nations. It’s my belief that if we are ever to assist the people of East Africa then we need to ensure that their leaders, both locally and nationally, are doing everything they can to ensure that these disasters are less frequent. I use “disaster” loosely. To clarify, famines are not natural disasters. They occur as a result of both political and economic mismanagement and more importantly, human failure.

The United Nations has called this famine in the Horn of Africa “the worst in sixty years.” Sadly, there are 3.2 million people in immediate need of life saving assistance. The UN FSNAU predicts that the famine will continue until at least December 2011.

For anyone who has been to Africa, you’ll know how proud Africans are. They have a fantastic spirit and are, surprisingly, very grateful for what little they have. It’s absolutely essential that any support from the UN and NGOs are a hand up, and not a hand out. These people have their pride and should be seen as equals. Yes we may feel bad about their situations but one thing they don’t want is our pity.

Although I have focussed on the negatives, there are many positives. The people of the UK are, and always have been, extremely generous. Like I mentioned earlier, and as we all know, times are tough in the UK. However, the UK is the second largest donor to the region, behind the United States. The UK Government committed .7 % of the UKs gross national income (gni) to aid. So far, the Disasters Emergency Committee has received donations of over £45m from the British public. The World Bank has also pledged £307m. Whilst all this money will be very welcome, I don’t believe that it’s the answer. We need to educate and help nations in Africa become self sufficient. This may be a long way off but there’s no better time to start!

I’m a great believer in the old saying, “give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for the rest of his life.”

It’s been a brilliant two months, with the SYP name and image growing a great deal – I’m so proud of the amazing work we have all done – from the SYP staff team to all the MSYPs pushing our campaign across Scotland.

As you may know I attended the launch of our national campaign Love Equally, but for the weeks previous I was busy meeting with our staff regularly to try and ensure this was one of the best launches that the Scottish Youth Parliament has ever had. I think many of you will agree it was a great success and with the massive media coverage we received from STV, The Scotsman, ITV Wales, Pink News and many more it was our best publicised campaign ever. Lessons have been learnt and I will ensure that MSYPs receive information in advance of future campaign launches.

Obviously the work of the campaign did not stop there.  While all of you were out working hard to gather hundreds of petition signatures, I was working on challenging the false perception of our campaign created by John Mason MSP’s motion in the Scottish Parliament. I am delighted that the work done by myself and the staff has paid off – with MSPs from every single party backing Patrick Harvie’s amendment to the motion and the personal messages of support we have been receiving for not only our national campaign but for the work we do as an organisation has been fantastic.

In my local area of East Kilbride I will be busy continuing to gather as many signatures as possible for our petition. Now can’t be the time to rest on our laurels, we need to show decisions makers of the Scottish Parliament that it’s time to not just consult on Equal Marriage, but to legislate on it. The only way that this is possible is to ensure that we get as many signatures as possible, so please keep promoting the campaign and petition.

Away from the hectic work of campaigning myself, Rae Cahill, Malcolm Andrews and Kyle Thornton went down to Leeds for the UKYP Sitting.  Well done to Kyle who successfully got a Scottish perspective into the UKYP manifesto with his motion on simplifying the UK tax system for young people everywhere. In Leeds I also met with the newly elected President of the NUS, Liam Burns, having extremely positive talks on new links between SYP and the National Union of Students.

This month I was also in London to meet with officials of the Votes@16 Coalition Group and representatives of the British Youth Council. Votes@16 is an important issue for us as an organization and I was proud to represent young people at that meeting and offer new and innovative ideas that have been effective for us in the SYP in the hope that one day votes at 16 will be a reality.

After the Votes at 16 meeting I met with staff from the British Youth Council and some of the young BYC members to see how BYC and the Scottish Youth Parliament can come much closer together and fight for the right of young people in the halls and corridors of Holyrood, Westminster and the European Parliament.

Last week, I went to Belfast with Marie Gallagher to speak at a member’s day of the Northern Ireland Youth Forum (NIYF).  I thought it would also be a good opportunity to discuss how SYP and the NIYF could work more closely together and how we could learn for each other’s strengths.

I attended an evening reception at Edinburgh Castle with the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, Alex Neil MSP and the Climate Change and Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson MSP as they launched Scotland’s bid to host the World Water Forum’s Conference in 2015. I chatted with both ministers on the SYP manifesto and was introduced to the Chief Executives of the World Water Forum and Scottish Water.

I was also invited to speak at the Young Scots for Independence’s National Conference, which was a great opportunity to promote our Love Equally campaign.

I have been extremely busy meeting with MSPs in our new office to help build upon the great feeling and momentum which the organisation is developing right now. Linda Fabiani MSP, Derek Mackay MSP, Kezia Dugdale MSP, Patrick Harvie MSP, Marco Biagi MSP and Joan McAlpine MSP are just some of parliamentarians I have met with to discuss our work in the Scottish Youth Parliament and of course our campaign.

I’m really looking forward to the October Sitting – as promised, at the hustings session there will be a Board Q&A. If you have any questions please feel free to ask us on day, or if you have any feedback or questions in advance of the meeting please email me grant.costello.msyp@sypmail.org.uk

See you all in North Ayrshire on the 29^th October!

Grant Costello

Chair
Scottish Youth Parliament