TYCROES TEENAGER IS VOICE FOR WALES

A Tycroes teenager is to represent Wales at next month’s UK Youth Parliament debate.

Alisha Gibbons, aged 14, is a member of Carmarthenshire Youth Council and will be joining 300 other youngsters aged between 11 and 18 in a debate in the House of Commons.

The Youth Parliament will decide which two issues should become their priority campaigns at the debate on Friday, November 13, which can be watched live on BBC Parliament.

Alisha is one of 24 young people from Wales to be elected, however she is the only Welsh representative chosen to be a debate lead in the Commons chamber.

She will be speaking at the dispatch box which the Prime Minister, the cabinet and the shadow cabinet speaks from.

Alisha has been a Carmarthenshire Youth Council (CYC) member for the last three years and has been elected by other Youth Councillors to represent the county.

Over the summer, Carmarthenshire Youth Council backed the UK’s largest youth consultation, which gave a million young people aged 11-18 years old across the UK a voice.

CYC returned over 1,300 ballot papers as a result of this and will be debating the top five issues chosen.

The Youth Parliament will vote on each debate topic, which will be introduced with speeches from regionally elected members.

Following the five debates, they will vote for their top issue to decide which will become their national campaign for 2016.

Alisha said: “I’m so thrilled to have been elected as a Member of Youth Parliament to represent the young people of Wales on a national level.

“I’m looking forward to being able to have the experience of debating in the House of Commons and meeting young people who are working to make a difference.”

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Youth Services Cllr Gareth Jones said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Alisha to ensure that young people have their views and opinions heard on issues important to them on a national platform.”