Cllr Jake Morrison, Liverpool Labour's 18 year old Councillor for Wavertree Ward, has led calls for young people to make their voices heard as the Lib Dem / Tory Coalition Government's cuts bite.
Speaking to the Unison conference, Jake said that Government cuts to jobs, their scrapping of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), their trebling of tuition fees, their cuts to University places, and their cuts to house building programmes providing affordable housing for first time buyers were adding up to make the lives of young people especially difficult.
Jake went on to say that young people also have to lead the way in reforming the Labour Party, and transforming the Party into a community campaigning organisation.
Jake said: "Young people are the ones who will be running the country in the years to come.
"We are the ones who will be serving our country in the armed forces, we are the future police, the nurses, the teachers, the shopkeepers, and the factory workers of this country.
"But this government seem to have forgotten all that.
"Youth unemployment is nearly at 1 million, for school leavers and graduates.
"Then we look at other things like cutting EMA, and trebling Tuition fees to £9000 a year.
"That really disgusts me.
"It is absolutely vital, at a time like this, when it is harder for young people to find jobs, when it is harder for young people to get a house, and when it is harder for young peple to find training – isn’t it vital that young people are represented and have someone to speak up for them?"
Jake went on to welcome moves to reform the Labour Party, saying that young people also had a pivotal role to play in this process.
"Oscar Wilde once said that ‘the problem with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings’.
"I think that quote needs bringing out again – we still spend too long naval gazing at meetings when we should be out as an active community group.
"You don’t campaign for a better tomorrow by bickering over the minutes of the last meeting.
"You do it by getting out into your community and by providing the active leadership needed to make places better, people healthier, children happier, families tighter, communities stronger.
"I look forward to hearing the suggestions at National Conference in Liverpool this September about how we move forwards as a party, and I look forward to being one of the young voices making those arguments."
Jake Morrison was elected at the local elections in May 2011, defeating the Lib Dem peer and former council leader, Lord Mike Storey. Jake is 18 years old and lives in Walton. The full text of his speech is below.
Speech by Cllr Jake Morrison to the Unison Conference, Tuesday 21 June 2011
Check against delivery
Good afternoon everyone.
Thanks for inviting me today.
Its great to have the opportunity to come and speak to you today.
I’m Jake Morrison. Or, as of two months ago, I’m very proud to say that its now Councillor Jake Morrison.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking – ‘blimey, he’s young.’
And you’d be right, I suppose.
At 18 years old I’m the youngest ever Liverpool City Councillor.
I’m one of the youngest in the country, although I’m told there is a Lib Dem down south somewhere who’s younger than me.
But anyway, I’m very proud to be here as a Liverpool City Councillor.
I’m also very proud to be here as a proud member of UNISON.
I work as a Healthcare Assistant in the NHS in Liverpool and I am a UNISON Rep in our local branch Liverpool Acute Hospitals.
I stood for council because I wanted to make a difference to people’s lives
I do that through my day job in the NHS
I help deal with the immediate problems.
But I also wanted to make a difference to people’s home lives, the environment they are living in.
Since being elected the casework has already started to come in
I’ve began to make a difference to people’s lives. That is what I enjoy.
So what is the future for young people?
Well, we are the ones who will be running the country in the years to come.
We are the ones who will be serving our country in the armed forces of tomorrow, we are the future police, the nurses, the teachers, the shopkeepers, and the factory workers of this country.
But this government seem to have forgotten all that.
Youth unemployment is nearly at 1 million, for school leavers and graduates.
Then we look at youth who are currently employed, like me...
My job is at risk, like peoples of all ages in this country due to the careless cuts from this coalition government.
Then we look at other things, EMA
Luciana Berger who is the MP for the constituency in which my ward is, visited a college in our city, she met a young lady who discussed EMA with her, the young lady said “I can live without EMA, but that means the difference between me getting the bus or eating lunch on each school day”.
I then look at Tuition fees, trebling them to £9000 a year, that really disgusts me...
I met up with my ex head teacher just after the election, we spoke about why I chose Labour to be the party I stood for,
I said, if we look at a lot of the people who were in my year group, most of them feel they can go on to university, a lot of them have had it planned since they chose what subjects in year 9.
I really like that, young people feeling that they can go to university, it empowers them and it motivates them to achieve the results they need.
I look at what the Labour Administration in Liverpool achieved last year, one of the pledges at the 2010 local election was to create 100 apprenticeships for young people.
We kept that promise. In fact we over-delivered – Joe Anderson, the Leader of the Council, ended up delivering 133 apprenticeships this year.
I was proud enough at that, but to then find out that Joe has promised that another 700 apprenticeships are on the way, I was delighted.
It just goes to show what a Labour council can achieve if it is imaginative, forward thinking and innovative.
Young people get a bad enough press these days.
Its great that the Labour council are giving them something positive to aspire too.
Young people are beginning to get more of a voice.
With more younger representatives on local councils the profile of issues regarding young people will be raised higher and higher.
And isn’t it absolutely vital, at a time like this when it is harder for young people to find jobs, when it is harder for young people to get a house, and when it is harder for young peple to find training – isn’t it vital that young people are represented and have a say?
This also replicates into Parliament, our MPs are becoming more representative of the wider community, including younger MPs.
These MPs have strong opinions on issues like unpaid internships and cuts to EMA.
Labour has seen a big rise in membership since the General Election,
A lot of ex lib dem members, and a lot of younger people are joining us.
Our membership has grown by over 50,000 new members.
We need to reach out to these people, and make sure they have a say in how our party grows and restructures itself, facing the future.
The refounding Labour Consultation seems like a good idea for our grassroots members to have a greater say and involvement in the party as a whole.
I remember Ed Milliband addressing an audience of young members during National Conference last year; he spoke about attending his Constituency Labour meetings.
He described them as boring and not motivating for our members.
But then Ray Collins, General Secretary spoke and told us how he was invited to a CLP meeting where they did an hours Doorknocking beforehand, and then went to the meeting and discussed the issues that where risen on the doorstep.
This is more interesting and more motivating for building on membership and activity from the local party.
Oscar Wilde once said that ‘the problem with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings’.
I think that quote needs bringing out again – we still spend too long naval gazing at meetings when we should be out as an active community group.
You don’t campaign for a better tomorrow by bickering over the minutes of the last meeting.
You do it by getting out into your community and by providing the active leadership needed to make places better, people healthier, children happier, families tighter, communities stronger.
I look forward to hearing the suggestions at National Conference in Liverpool this September about how we move forwards as a party, and I look forward to being one of the young voices.
The challenges faced by young people in this country are huge.
They have been caused by a Tory – led government cutting millions and millions from public services.
Its time for us to get stuck into this Tory Government. Its time for the Lib Dems to get out of the way, and to stop providing a human shield for the Tories and the consequences of their policies. And its time for us to fight for a Labour Government once again.
Thank you