Chair's Blog
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Chris Pollard Chair of Torfaen Young People's Forum
UK Youth Parliament – House of Commons 30th October 2009
On the morning of the event, at 5:30 to be precise, I got up and put my suit on feeling nervous and excited. The night previously, I had agreed to take part in an interview live on the radio with BBC Radio Wales. A private hire vehicle pulled up outside where we were staying, and inside was a gentleman in a suit holding a large board which had the words "Pollard – Chris". In an excitement me and my girlfriend both clambered into this vehicle and set off for the city of Westminster. This had been the first time I had ever been in a car driving though London, so it was quite odd looking at the buses thinking that I should be on them. The car came to a halt outside a large building in Milbank. We both went in and we were instantly taken to a small studio that was only big enough for the two of us.
We were told to sit down with our headphones on and we would go straight onto the radio. We waited in silence for what seems like ages but must have only been 5 minutes, when the headphones burst into life and started playing a live feed of BBC Radio Wales. Every now and again it would cut out to be replaced by a voice that said "Chris?... Chris... Can you hear me? Good, okay well you'll be going live at any moment." I can honestly say that I was panicking, what if I said something wrong? What if I couldn't answer one of the questions? But before I could really panic it was too late and I was in the middle of an interview. I was accompanied by The Labour MP Sian James who represents Swansea East. I was asked questions about what I was going to do that day, what my future career plans were and even if I were considered an 'odd' boy for taking an interest in politics. Before I managed to get into full swing of things the interview was over. It was almost like going for a vaccine at the doctors when you're very young. You think that it's going to be the most painful thing in the world, yet when it's over and done you wonder what all the fuss was about.
I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that it was a truly memorable experience and I would be more than happy to do it again in the future. However, so much has happened already and it's only half seven in the morning. After looking at the monuments and statues around Westminster and popping into a 'greasy-spoon' café for a quick coffee and a bacon & egg sandwich, I said goodbye to my girlfriend at Waterloo Station and then went to Westminster Underground, to meet Danielle Beck – the Partnership Support Officer for Torfaen and my partner in crime for the day.
We waited in a queue outside the Houses of Parliament surrounded by people in suits using very long words; the perfect breeding ground for intimidation. We reached the front of the building where we were sent in groups into the building. Within the first 30 seconds of being inside we had our pictures taken, our coats and bags scanned and had been searched, then sent onwards to the main hall. As we entered the hall it was like being part of history. Old wooden beams and statues immediately caught the eyes of everyone who entered the room. In front of us was a mass of people all grouped together by their regions, and after searching through the people for a while (and a short break for some complimentary tea and squash), we managed to find 'Wales'.
After a quick introduction to the other members in my 'region of Wales' such as Powys and Caerphilly, it was announced that we had to make our way to the House of Commons. The journey felt really long, everyone was walking at the slowest pace possible to take in the atmosphere. There were beautiful paintings on the walls, there were statues and busts of politicians from previous years and the general décor can only be described as stunning.
Everyone took so long to get into the chamber that we were half hour behind schedule (this later would have a bad impact). I parted company from Danielle as she was not allowed to enter the Chamber with me and instead went into the public viewing area. I went into the Chamber, sat down and waited for the speaker to arrive – John Bercow. When he arrived we were told by the doormen to stand in silence until the speaker tells us to sit down. The Chamber echoed to the chorus of people's voices, all tinted with anticipation. The speaker had arrived and everyone fell silence and rose from their seats and watched as 'Mr Speaker' took to his place. As soon as John Bercow said, "Order. Order" It became more real than ever. To think that back at home my mum could watch this on the telly!
The first topic looked at University tuition fees and really set the standard for what was going to happen for the rest of the day. Some of the arguments that people put forward could only be described as ruthless. People want free university tuition, and they want it NOW! It was time to move on to the next topics, Youth Crime and Transport issues. This was my territory. This was something that I've been focussing on with the Torfaen Forum since I joined 3 years ago, I couldn't wait. However, the speaker announced that because we were late starting these topics would both have to be covered in about forty minutes. I was really disappointed about that. The two topics I wanted to get involved in and 10 minutes had been shaved off the pair of them. None the less, they were very good and deep debates.
We then broke off for lunch and I met back up with Danielle, we had a lovely buffet lunch and a chat about how the day was going. After lunch I returned to the Chamber to finish the rest of the day's topics. These were Capitalism – Does it work? and we round up the day discussing whether the voting age in the general election should be lowered. The debates were fierce and fast, like a game of metaphorical tennis (which is exactly what I said to a journalist for The Guardian newspaper during the lunch period). However, I feel that the longest and most passionate debate was the last one of the day – lowering the voting age. When this debate was over the speaker gave a speech on what he thought of us in the House of Commons and surprisingly gave his opinions and views about the British National Party – the one thing that as a speaker in the House of Commons he must not do as a figure of impartialness.
At the end of all items on the agenda we had to vote on what we thought was the most important issue of the day. The chosen issue would then be part of a national campaign for the Youth Parliament. We all got into line and waited to go into a room to put a cross on the ballet paper before putting it in the big black box, we all gathered back in the Chamber to hear the result. The clear winner chosen by a mile was lowering the voting age – something that I personally was against. However it had been a fantastic day and a great success. Throughout the day I had been on an adrenaline high, not knowing what was going to happen from one minute to the next. Journalists popped out from nowhere, every corner of the Houses of Parliament had something breath-taking to look at, and overall it was a fantastic day. At the very end of the debates someone made a Point of Order in which they pointed out that England was split up into regions and the smaller surrounding countries weren't. This caused clear controversy amongst everyone and the small group of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland had to defend themselves from the flurry of backlash comments from the much larger regions of England. This clearly showed the intensity of the day.
The day did also have its brighter moments. There were a lot of funny speeches including one person stammering over their words before bursting out with "Oh dear, I'm messing this up… I'm just like Boris Johnson!"
I met up with Danielle and headed home to Torfaen. It had been a complete success and I cannot wait to do it again, given the opportunity. The day had been crammed with nerves, excitement, anticipation, adrenaline, surprise and some serious debating. It was certainly a day I will never forget.