The new Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Siân Berry, said that she was disappointed the King’s speech did not include a bill to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote.
In her maiden speech in the House of Commons, the MP said that supporting young people was something that she felt “strongly” about.
She added: “Young people should have a louder voice wherever decisions are being made.
“I’m therefore disappointed to see no specific bill in today’s list removing barriers to voting for young people, including voter ID and age limits for elections to this house and English local councils that do not apply in Wales and Scotland.”
In an eight-minute speech shortly before 8pm today (Wednesday 17 July), Ms Berry said: “I am so honoured to be here in this historic chamber today as part of a brand-new group of Green colleagues who I must now call my honourable friends.
“We are very pleased today to hear a wide range of new bills being proposed. We welcome some measures. Some we will seek to improve and some we will seek to change or add to.
“Listening to people in my constituency during the election, it was hard not to be affected by the strength of public feeling and distress about the climate emergency and the degradation of our natural environment and by the huge desire to defend social justice and public services. This Parliament must seek to deliver for them.
“This is my maiden speech. I stand here thanks to the votes and values of the fantastic people of Brighton Pavilion. They have put their trust in me and the Green Party – and for that I extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation.
“Brighton has always been a truly special place – from its origins as a fishing village and Roman villa complex to its Regency and railway booms, with its huge sense of spirit and a warm welcome to every visitor to our famous beach.
“But Brighton has always been so much more than a seaside resort. The richness and variety of our culture and entertainment is legendary. From Victorian innovation, through the 1960s of my parents and my own decade of youth in the far-away 1990s to the present day, our music, theatre, comedy and literary traditions have always blended with cutting-edge, creative and exciting counterculture movements to reflect and enrich the modern world.
“Our cultural richness has survived, strived, struggled and then thrived through many turbulent times, not least the recent pandemic, and I am confident it will continue to do so for many centuries to come.
“I am proud that the latest census confirms that nowadays my city is home to one of the UK’s largest populations of LGBT+ people, and that we host the biggest and best Pride celebrations including Europe’s largest Trans Pride which will be this weekend.
“Brighton and Hove is a welcoming city in so many ways and I am very proud we are a city of sanctuary, committed to a culture of hospitality and welcome for those seeking refuge from war and persecution.
“Brighton Pavilion has a history of dedicated, long-serving MPs. From its first election as a single-member constituency in 1950, it was represented until 1969 by Sir William Burke Teeling, an Irish writer and self-described ‘amateur tramp’ who walked from London to Newcastle to explore how councils were tackling unemployment.
“Our MP was then Julian Amery for 23 years and Derek Spencer for five years before David Lepper served in this house as a highly respected and hardworking MP for 13 years.
“And, of course, I have one of the easiest and most pleasurable jobs among new MPs in paying tribute to my immediate predecessor.
“Brighton is also a special place because it has been at the heart of the green movement in England and Wales and that continued when our own beloved Caroline Lucas won the seat for the Green Party in 2010.
“Caroline held the seat through three further elections, leaving a 14-year legacy that I look up to as a shining mountain to climb as I take my very first steps here today.
“As well as being an excellent constituency MP, of the many ways in which Caroline influenced policy, I was most charmed by her success in working with the nature writer Mary Colwell to win a new GCSE in natural history.
“Helping to inspire and train up a generation of new David Attenboroughs is a real national service.
“Most impressive has been Caroline’s steadfast and long-standing opposition to threats to the public’s right to protest. Caroline lived that principle and through it played a key role in ending fracking in the UK.
“I know that all of us sitting here today are humbly aiming to live up to the high standards, values and work ethic that she represented and to serve here with the same energy and enthusiasm.
“It is those principles that will guide my work as an MP, as well as some of my own values and enthusiasms.
“People who know my work in other places will be aware that listening to and supporting young people is something I feel very strongly about.
“With huge pleasure, I commend to the house the incredible work of Brighton and Hove Citizens which has just won a huge campaigning victory with a beautiful example of raising up and empowering young people and their voices to make change happen.
“With schools across Brighton and Hove working with colleges, religious groups, workers, universities and the charity sector, Brighton and Hove Citizens has this year won a big new commitment from the council.
“After a long and engaging campaign, sixth formers Fi Abou-Chanad and Tally Wilcox presented a 2,000-signature petition and won a pledge for hundreds of young people in Brighton schools to benefit from investment in mental health support and counselling.
“That is just one group of young people among many inspiring organisations across our country that I cannot wait to hear more about in this job.
“They include Green New Deal Rising, the UK Youth Climate Coalition, Young Minds, People and Planet, the National Society of Apprentices, the National Union of Students and many more.
“Young people should have a louder voice wherever decisions are being made, not just when they organise.
“I am therefore disappointed to see no specific bill in today’s list removing barriers to voting for young people, including voter ID and age limits for elections to this house and English local councils that do not apply in Wales and Scotland.
“Our 16 and 17-year-olds and our young people need a real voice and need those measures in this Parliament.
“I hope that, when we debate the bills put forward in today’s King’s speech, the voices of young people are sought out and listened to and that many changes and additions are made where they are needed most, including removing the two-child benefit cap.
“I am grateful for the patience of honourable members in listening to me. I greatly look forward to seeing the impact of the young voices I plan to raise up in this Chamber being granted the same attention and respect.”
Sian seems to have been boning up on the history of Brighton in Google. Roman Villa? What an utter pile of piffle!
Great to see BHASVIC students getting a mention.
Did she not read this in the speech?
“My ministers will strengthen the integrity of elections and encourage wide participation in the democratic process.”
Not every issue can get a mention in the speech. Not every issue gets its own bill. Also it’s a five year Parliament and not everything can get done in the first year.
Yes she did, that’s why she’s disappointed.
Labour could end the 2 child benefit cap to address child poverty straightaway if they liked. They’re not, because they are the new Tories. It’s good there are people in Parliament to remind Labour of what they have become.
So….Sian hooked up with the ‘Not My King’ mob afterwards. How right on!
#PoorLittleRichGirl
She needs to do a tour of her constituency and see the closed shops, homeless people on the streets and endless graffiti. She’ll soon learn no one in the Commons will care what she and her other Greens have to say.
Weird that she mentions the two BHASVIC students and the new council policy to have mental health support in secondary schools, as this was a Labour administration policy. Nice that she recognises how great the policy is but she really should give credit to Brighton and Hove Council’s Labour administration for this !
Not really that weird, perhaps she’s just above playing petty party politics which is refreshing.
It was also the pupils who were doing the hard work lobbying the council and pushing the idea, so giving them credit is the most important thing, and the right thing to do.
If at some point in the future the new Labour Government do the right thing and end the 2 child benefit cap, whilst it might be good to give Labour a nod and say well done for listening to all of the campaigners lobbying you on this no-brainer of an idea, but again, the credit really should go to all of those lobbying the Government on the need for change and holding the Govt to account on it. And if Labour don’t back down, then they really have no right to suggest they care about ending child poverty, if they did they would be prioritising it.
No one in their righ mind would give votes to 16yr olds.