Singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald was at the Scottish Parliament yesterday to launch the event, which will see a tiny white living room transported around the country over the next three months until it is inscribed with hundreds of hopes, aspirations and suggestions for what young people want.
The Scottish Youth Parliament initiative is open to people aged 14 to 25 and it is hoped the youth manifesto will influence the political parties.
Macdonald, 22, recalled her frustration as a Modern Studies student at how few of her fellow pupils were into current affairs. She said: “It is important that young people get their chance to influence Scotland’s politicians, and the creation of a manifesto by the Scottish Youth Parliament provides that chance.
“I am happy to help and urge young people to get involved and have their voice heard in this positive way.”
Meanwhile, in London, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg launched the Your Freedom website at which
people will be able to propose ways to get rid of pointless regulation and unnecessary bureaucracy and reduce state intrusion into everyday life.
Clegg said letting dormant laws accumulate on the statute book sends out the “wrong signal” and there was plenty of “old stuff” to be dropped.
He said the previous government had gone too far in invad-ing people’s privacy, adding: “Did that make us safer? No, it didn’t necessarily make us safer, so we’ve got to get the balance right.”
From today any minister who proposes a new regulation would also have to propose an existing law to be taken off the statute book – “a one in, one out rule,” Clegg said.
