Welwyn Garden City schoolgirl in key role at UK Youth Parliament

A WGC schoolgirl has been playing a key role in shaping the UK Youth Parliament's national manifesto. Kathryn Whalley, a pupil at Monk's Walk School, is a Hertfordshire MYP – Member of Youth Parliament – and has taken part in the national annual sitting

A WGC schoolgirl has been playing a key role in shaping the UK Youth Parliament's national manifesto.

Kathryn Whalley, a pupil at Monk's Walk School, is a Hertfordshire MYP - Member of Youth Parliament - and has taken part in the national annual sitting of the authority.

Held at the University of Kent at Canterbury, 350 MYPs from across the country debated the issues that matter most to young people and put together their action agenda to present to the Government.

The event was packed with training sessions, debates, fringe meetings and work on the manifesto.

Keynote speakers included the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and the new House of Commons Speaker John Bercow.

Kathryn, 17, from Codicote, is the East of England representative for the Abolish University Fees campaign - one of the UKYP's three national campaigns - and took part in the policy development group discussions.

She said: "We really moved the manifesto along, and having seen what the West Midlands are doing I feel we need to do more campaigning in the East of England on this issue.

"I really enjoyed the whole weekend and found the speaker of the House of Commons inspirational.