Voting Open for the Scottish Youth Parliament

Monday March 2nd 2015

Elections to the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) run from 2 to 13 March 2015.

Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) speak on behalf of young people in the area they represent. This is your chance to vote for the candidate you want to elect.

There are 8 candidates standing for election. Two candidates will be returned for Midlothian, one for Midlothian north and Musselburgh and one for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.

Find out about the local candidates and how to vote HERE

What is the Scottish Youth Parliament?

The Scottish Youth Parliament is as old as the Scottish Parliament having started on the 30th June 1999. The Scottish Youth Parliament is made up of Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament.

The membership can be as big as 200 young people:

• 146 constituency MSYPs with space for two MSYPs from each of the 73 Scottish Parliament constituencies. Constituency MSYPs are elected through elections across Scotland’s 32 local authority areas.
• 54 voluntary organisation MSYPs with space for two MSYPs from each voluntary organisation that signs up to become a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament.
• 8 organisations are currently represented by MSYPs: LGBT Youth Scotland; British Deaf Association: Scotland; Girlguiding Scotland; Quarriers; Who Cares? Scotland; YMCA Scotland; Whizz Kids; and the Scottish Epilepsy Initiative.

MSYPs are aged between 14 and 25 years old and all MSYPs work for the organisation as volunteers.

Over the years, the Scottish Youth Parliament has had approximately 1,000 MSYPs and has worked directly with even more young people across Scotland.

7 MSYPs sit on the Board of Trustees of the Scottish Youth Parliament: the Chair; the Vice Chair; a representative from the Conveners Group; and 4 further elected MSYPs. All members of the Board are aged between and including 16 and 25 years of age.

In the Scottish Youth Parliament’s history there have been 11 Chairs.

There are 10 Subject Committees: Culture and Media; Education and Lifelong Learning; Jobs and Economy; Equalities; External Affairs; Health and Wellbeing; Justice; Social Justice; Sport and Leisure; and Transport, Environment and Rural Affairs.

The Scottish Youth Parliament meets at least 3 times a year, at national sittings. Additional events, activities and meetings run throughout the year giving MSYPs even more opportunities to come together.

90% of former MSYPs state that the impact of the Scottish Youth Parliament on them has been either “Very positive” or “Positive”.

89% of former MSYPs would recommend joining the Scottish Youth Parliament to young people in Scotland today.

The work and activities of the Scottish Youth Parliament

• The Scottish Youth Parliament has represented the view of young people in Scotland through three manifestos launched to coincide with Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
• The Scottish Youth Parliament’s 2011 “Change the Picture” manifesto was published following a nationwide consultation that received 42,804 responses from young people.
• SYP submitted 16 consultation responses in the last season – engaging over 6,384 young people directly in policy
• MSYPs sit on 10 Cross Party Groups

The 2013 SYP elections saw 67,071 young people vote to elect MSYPs to represent every Scottish Parliament Constituency

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