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Around 50 candidates attend youth hustings

Candidates regularly reference listening to the island’s young people in their manifestos, but how many are willing to put that into practice?

The group presenting to candidates spoke about the importance of listening to young people and how politics can be made more accessible to standing in the election.
The group presenting to candidates spoke about the importance of listening to young people and how politics can be made more accessible to standing in the election. / Guernsey Press/Peter Frankland

Almost 50 candidates attended a launch event hosted by the Youth Forum to unveil its own manifesto.

‘We were extremely pleased with how it went, we were conscious when we organised our event that it’s such a busy time for our candidates but to welcome almost 50 was fantastic,’ said Eva Redelinghuys, 16, of the Youth Forum.

‘Candidates seemed really excited to engage with us and stayed behind after the event to chat to us, and we definitely felt a buzz in the room.’

Eva Redelinghuys, 16, of the Youth Forum.
Eva Redelinghuys, 16, of the Youth Forum. / Guernsey Press/Peter Frankland

The group presenting to candidates spoke about the importance of listening to young people and how politics can be made more accessible to standing in the election.

With this year’s election taking place during GSCEs and A-levels, many students said that they felt unable to justify the time to read more than 80 manifestos. And so the Youth Forum has asked candidates to submit a short-form manifesto of 150 words highlighting three key issues important to them.

Some of these have already been received and have been published on the Youth Commission website.

Election 2025: Candidate interviews

After giving their presentation, the Youth Forum group answered questions from candidates ranging from how best to use TikTok and social media for young people, to how newly elected candidates can stay in touch and access young people’s opinions in future.

The question time had to be cut short as there were so many questions.

The Youth Forum manifesto and shortened versions of candidates’ manifestos can be found here. As of yesterday, 30 candidates had filed a version on the website.

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