Young people should have a say in policies that affect their future

We need to hear from those disproportionally affected by the challenges we face, write Rosie Lockwood and Serena Kelly

Young people have unique experiences and fresh ideas to offer policymakers (Getty)

As we approach 2022, many young people are awake to, and anxious about, what awaits them, both now and in the future. They’ve had a tough couple of years.

Education has been disrupted by the pandemic, while nine in a classroom of 30, according to Child Poverty Action Group data, will be growing up in poverty. Support for young people has been eroded by austerity, with youth services cut by 70 per cent over the last decade, found research by the YMCA. And looking ahead, there are huge challenges such as the climate crisis.

Young people did not create these issues. But they are part of the answer to them. They’re an energetic, diverse, passionate generation, who care about their communities now as well as those who will follow them in the future. Thousands of children and young people have taken to the streets in recent years to call for climate action, and as we saw at the climate summit in Glasgow this autumn, they have the motivation and ideas we need to win the race to net zero. They do this because they care about the impacts of the climate crisis on people now, about the planet they will inherit, and the legacy they will leave.