UK Youth Parliament sits in House of Lords for first time » Central government » 24dash.com

The UK Youth Parliament sat in the House of Lords for the first time today, with delegates disagreeing over whether university tuition fees should be abolished.

It is only the second time, following a school debating competition last year, that the Lords has been used for a non-parliamentary event.

Issues such as recycling and lowering the voting age, as well as tuition fees, will be discussed by the 300 members of the Youth Parliament today, as they decide which issues they should campaign on during the next year.

While peers range in age from 36 to 95, none have been elected by the general public and men must wear jackets and ties in the chamber. The members of the Youth Parliament, some wearing jeans, are aged 11 to 18 and have been voted for by 400,000 of their contemporaries.

The Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, who is chairing the event, told the elected representatives: "It is a tremendous thrill to me to see all of you here today.

"Part of my role is to make the work of the House of Lords more accessible to young people and the population as a whole.

"We're doing that through a huge number of different routes - whether it is sending speakers into schools, going out talking to community groups, getting our website arranged with topics you might be interested in, rather than processes we are interested in."

The three-hour sitting, which features delegates from across the country, will be shown on the BBC Parliament Channel at a later date.