Hundreds of newly-elected Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament got a warm welcome when they arrived in Renfrewshire for their first National Sitting of the new term.
Almost 200 delegates from across Scotland came to the Sitting held at Park Mains High School in Erskine.
And MSYPs received a warm welcome by Council Leader Mark Macmillan ahead of their weekend long parliamentary session, who took the opportunity to talk about the Youth Parliament’s 2015 campaign, POVERTY: See It Change It.
Councillor Macmillan said: “The Youth Parliament is key to giving young people a voice to speak out on things that matter to them and that enthusiasm was prevalent at the Sitting. Almost 6,500 young people voted in Renfrewshire in the SYP elections, the second highest number of votes cast in a Scottish local authority area. Young people are more engaged in the democratic process than ever before and this is fantastic news.
“Tackling Poverty is one of the council’s top priorities and it is welcome that this is the Scottish Youth Parliament’s campaign for 2015. Supporting young people out of poverty was the main reason the Renfrewshire Tackling Poverty Commission – the first of its kind in Scotland – was initiated by the council. Our £6m tackling poverty fund will invest in a far-reaching package of new interventions and will expand successful and proven approaches, as we work to make sure tackling poverty is central to everything we do.”
During the two day intensive Sitting, the Leader got the chance to catchup with Renfrewshire’s MSYPs – Emma Eck, Osama Nadeem, Mark Dougan, Eilidh Harkness and Carrie McIntyre – to talk about the poverty campaign.
Mark Macmillan added: “Renfrewshire’s MSYPs are already working hard on taking forward the poverty campaign and I look forward to working with them to shine a light in every corner of youth poverty.”
The poverty campaign is seeking to raise awareness among young people about poverty, combat poverty stigma and work with decision makers to uphold the UK-wide commitment to tackle child poverty by 2020.
For more information on the POVERTY: See It Change It campaign, visit www.syp.org.uk or follow #seeitchangeit on Twitter.