[Int-koordination] Fw: Press Release - Young people not permitted to be party political in Wales - Pirates think differently

[michael john sinclair <mickeyy_sinclair AT yahoo.de>]

Zu info

Grüße

Mickey Sinclair

----- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -----

Von: Pirate Party UK Press Team <press AT pirateparty.org.uk>

An: Michael John Sinclair <mickeyy_sinclair AT yahoo.de>

Gesendet: ‎Sonntag‎, ‎1‎. ‎April‎ ‎2018‎ ‎14‎:‎07‎:‎06‎ ‎CEST

Betreff: Press Release - Young people not permitted to be party political in Wales - Pirates think differently

-------- PIRATE PARTY PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

------------------

You can find Pirate Party press releases online at

www.pirateparty.org.uk/press, or contact the press office at

press AT pirateparty.org.uk or on +44 (0)161 987 7880.

-------- YOUNG PEOPLE NOT PERMITTED TO BE PARTY POLITICAL IN WALES - PIRATES

          THINK DIFFERENTLY

---------------------------------------------------

If you live in Wales, are aged 11-18 and want to take part in the Welsh Youth

Parliament you will not be allowed to disclose your party affiliation.

The Welsh Government announced the end to their consultation in November 2017

and have decided on the particulars surrounding the Welsh Youth Parliament,

despite never publishing the results of the consultation.

Those aged 11-18 are permitted to take part, the first elections will be

November 2018 and there will be 60 members but none are allowed to disclose

their party association(s). Indeed it is unclear if any register of

declarations, such as for union membership, or any other affliation will be

permitted.

It is also unclear if anything discussed within the WYP will be considered by

the actual Welsh Parliament in the Senedd - for instance a law currently

being considered would ban those under 18 from getting certain piercings.

Pirate Party UK Principle Spokesperson, Mark Chapman said:

"This is yet another example of lazy and inconsistent thinking by the Welsh

Government. On one hand they're saying under 18s cannot decide for themselves

if a tongue piercing is suitable while also claiming to value the judgement

of young people by making them their own young people's parliament.

"It's a great shame that these young people will not be able to interact

within a model parliament that actually represents the Senedd and will not

operate transparently. Some of these young people will already have some

party affiliation or wish to be a candidate for one, those voting to elect

members deserve to know if that candidate has affiliations with Labour,

Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, UKIP... or the National Front for instance.

"A party declaration would also give an indication on what priorities that

young person would have, for example a Pirate Party candidate would want to

invest in teachers [1] and let all schools access a national media library

[2]. PPUK have also been long standing supporters of votes at 16 [3] and

would give consideration to allowing some to leave school at 14 [4].

Party disclosure is a useful tool for the electorate."

Pirate Party UK Spokesperson for Wales, David A Elston said:

"Many of those going into the WYP will still be in education and naturally

much debate will surround that sector. Education is a devolved sector in

Wales, but despite this, the way our schools are run has not been brought

into the 21st century. While expensive IT equipment such as top of the range

Mac computers and ipads are in schools, seldom are they used when compared to

a pencil or any other out of date equipment. It is no longer acceptable in

the workplace to use pen and paper, instead everything is documented on a

computer, or is later transferred on to one. The default teaching still being

pen and paper, is wildly out of date.

"While the introduction of computing in early years has moved on, where now

it should be reasonably common for someone 8 years old to have some kind of

very simple programming lessons, there's nothing like a raspberry pi in sight

and teaching staff frequently still struggle with basics, such as how to

attach a PDF to an e-mail. In order for our children to be computer literate,

they need to be supported by qualified teaching staff [5]."

Likely partly due to these issues, the Pirate Party has enjoyed some success

here in Wales. The party has contested national elections in Bridgend,

Cardiff, Swansea and the Vale of Glamorgan while steadily increasing their

votes, gaining 7.6% in a local VoG election, which was higher than previous

attempts by Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats.

Now the party is looking to recruit new volunteers to build and operate local

branches and contribute to holding our devolved government to account.

---

About Pirate Party UK

The Pirate Party in the UK is a fledgling political party. It has fielded a

few candidates in European and National elections, but like most small

parties it is significantly constrained by the UK electoral system. Despite

this, the Pirate Party has started to poll alongside major parties and is

looking to build support from the grassroots. The party stood 10 candidates

in the June 2017 General Election, and continually polls higher at each

election.

Find out more about the UK Pirate Party at https://pirateparty.org.uk/ [6] or

contact campaigns AT pirateparty.org.uk [7]

[1] https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/policy/education/invest-teachers

[2]

https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/policy/education/let-all-schools-access-national-media-library

[3] https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/policy/restoring-trust-government/votes-16

[4] https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/policy/education/reduce-school-leaving-age

[5]

https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/policy/education/ensure-teachers-are-qualified-teach

[6] https://pirateparty.org.uk/

[7] mailto:campaigns AT pirateparty.org.uk

    --

Like what we do? Help fund us at https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/donation - we

rely entirely on donations to make what we do possible!

For more information on the Pirate Party UK, please visit our website at

https://www.pirateparty.org.uk. If you wish to receive regular press

statements from the Party (or no longer wish to receive them) please email

the Press Office at press AT pirateparty.org.uk or you can unsubscribe using the

link below. The Pirate Party UK is a political party registered at Studio

202, Islington Mill, James Street, Salford, M3 5HW.

Use the following link to unsubscribe:

https://www.pirateparty.org.uk/newsletter/confirm/remove/9d04d27228441t123