St Vincent de Paul Society England and Wales were invited to a private tour of the House of Commons by a group of sixth formers from the St Thomas More Secondary School in Bedford last month.
The group made the visit on the 17th May and were accompanied by teachers and the school Chaplain, Helen Burgess. They met with their Member of Parliament for Bedford & Kempston Mohammad Yasin MP, and were given the opportunity to ask questions and raise their concerns.
Topics discussed included: the Cost of Living Crisis; the need to educate younger people about politics including making including political education for everyone, as part of the school curriculum; better support for young people’s mental health; and, the need to provide financial education to help young people stay out of debt.
St Vincent de Paul England and Wales collaborated on the trip as part of their work with the Youth SVP groups in schools to encourage young people aged 16-18 years of age, to play an active role in holding MPs to account, to represent the needs of the local community and to amplify SVP’s social justice work work.
Mohammad Yasin, MP for Bedford and Kempston said:
“It was a pleasure to meet such an inspiring group of pupils.
“They were really interested in how Parliament worked and asked very insightful questions on issues that really mattered to them, like on climate change, voting rights, recycling and the desire to be more informed about their rights as citizens and how to effect change for the better locally, nationally and internationally.”
Social Policy Manager at the SVP, Alessandra Sciara, said:
“It was an honour to work with our young Vincentians and help them learn about how they can use their voice to campaign for social justice. We will continue to engage with our young Vincentians and use our voice to effect change in their community.”
Across England and Wales, young people aged between 7-18 are putting their Faith into action by challenging the structures that keep people poor.