Tory leader Cameron abused at youth centre » Central Government » 24dash.com

Conservative leader David Cameron got an earful of abuse when he visited a youth centre today.

As Mr Cameron toured the Fairbridge Youth Centre, which helps young people who have left school, a male teenager shouted: "You do not know your ar*e from your elbow, you ba****rd."

Mr Cameron laughed and said: "That's going to be a tough call."

The youngster was guided away by staff at the centre.

Mr Cameron played a board game with six youngsters, in which the players have to work as a team to win a prize, at the centre on Brixton Road, south London.

He was there to help launch a national school-leavers programme.

Speaking about the Young Adult Trust, which is launched today, he said: "It's almost like a rite of passage. In a way, it is a little bit like national service, but it is not the military or compulsory.

"It aims to bring people together and let them know what their obligations are to each other to get them to try and understand what it means to be a citizen of this country."

Suenaila Akhtar, 20, who lives in Brixton, has been using the youth centre for six months. She toured the venue with Mr Cameron and played the board game with him.

She said: "I have certainly become more confident going to Fairbridge. It is people's choices to come to centres like this, but from my experience Fairbridge has been one of the best choices I have made and it has helped my confidence and communication.

"The Young Adult Trust is appreciated as David Cameron is providing more ideas and activities to help understand young people.

"However, I think people need to put their foot down and they should introduce compulsory schemes.

"David Cameron is a very direct person who gets to the point very quickly. He was asking questions and listening. He is quite an all right man."

Fairbridge, which is a charity, helps around 3,400 school-leavers with training and education across the country

Youngsters who took part in the pilot scheme for the Young Adult Trust gave the charity a thumbs-up today.

Twenty-five school pupils took part in the five-day course in Warrington. The group were set tasks from staging events for children to team work and sports challenges.

A short film of the project was shown at the launch of the charity at Bafta (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) in Piccadilly, central London, today.

The group, who are aged between 14 and 19, sat on the stage while Mr Cameron made a speech.

Sixth-form student Kamilah Vidale-Ellis, 17, who lives in Mitcham, Surrey, said: "The scheme helped make me more considerate to others and helped with my maturity.

"It made me start to realise what adulthood means.

"If anti-social youngsters went on this course they would learn a lot."

Josey Bright, 16, from Forest Hill, south London, said: "It was challenging and rewarding and my confidence grew. This project will make a big difference as it makes you see how your behaviour affects other people.

"I would definitely go on the course again, if I had the chance."

The Trust plans to expand its courses, staging three across the country for 100 youngsters each.

Liz Cross, chair of the Young Adult Trust, said: "Age is a really bad criteria on which to judge the contribution that people have made to society.

"We will build on the great research which has already been done in regard to young people.

"At the end of the three new projects we will hopefully have enough evidence that we know we are either adding white noise or new light.

"Youngsters need a bigger voice and industries like construction need to listen to what young people need and want for the future."

Copyright Press Association 2006