Ladies’ College student, 16, to speak in Parliament
A GUERNSEY teenager will be taking to the despatch box in a packed House of Commons in London tomorrow to deliver a speech on jobs and housing.
Ladies’ College student Eva Redelinghuys, 16, will have two minutes to address a sitting of the UK’s Youth Parliament on the topic of ‘Jobs, the economy and benefits – cost of living, employment and poverty’, and what this means for the Bailiwick.
Eva said that she was understandably nervous before the event.
‘But I am also unbelievably excited,’ she said.
‘I spoke in the States Chamber a couple of years ago as part of the Youth States, but nothing quite like this. I wrote the speech a couple of weeks ago, and have had time to practise, so I am at least feeling well prepared.’
She did not want to give the contents of her speech away, but said it reflected the pressures Guernsey was facing today. ‘It’s an overview of the main issues we are affected by in Guernsey, so the drop in the birth rate, our ageing population, and then talking about finance, one of our main economic sectors.’
Eva was selected to represent Guernsey by a judging panel from the island’s Youth Forum.
However, the subject of her speech was chosen through the ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign where young people across the island’s secondary schools had the opportunity to vote on multiple topics.
This is the second time that the Crown Dependencies have been invited to this event, after fellow Youth Forum member Neave Chatting-Tonks became the first Guernsey resident to speak at the despatch box in November 2023.
Eva is currently also involved in running a campaign to get more young people to vote in June’s election.
‘I’m trying to get everybody to enrol and vote, and working with the election outreach team going into schools and giving assemblies,’ she said.
‘Among young people the big topics are housing, climate change and education. Personally I feel addressing climate change is vital, but I also think housing so important, as we need to give young people the chance to have homes on the island and to return if they have left.’
More than 200 young people are expected to be involved the event, and islanders will have the chance to witness it too, as the event is being broadcast live on Parliament TV. Eva and the other Crown Dependency representatives are due to be speaking between 12.10 and 12.40pm.
