AN aspiring young politician from Okehampton will put his public speaking skills to the test — and his hard work into action — when he delivers a speech at Parliament that will be broadcast live to the nation.

Ryan Harnell, a 16-year-old student at Okehampton College, will be representing the North and West Devon constituency at the UK Youth Parliament Debate on Friday, November 11. Ryan said that he was excited and felt honoured to have been chosen to speak in the House of Commons.

The 2016 Youth Parliament Debate will take place at 10.30am and will be broadcast live on the BBC Parliament TV channel.

The debate follows the ‘Make Your Mark’ vote run by the UK Youth Parliament and carried out in schools and youth organisations across the country. The annual ballot decides what members of the Youth Parliament should debate and vote on to be their campaign for the following year.

This year a total of 978,216 young people from every corner of the country took part in choosing five issues to be debated. Youngsters decided that stopping cuts to the NHS, giving 16-year-olds the right to vote, a curriculum for life, transport and tackling racism and religious discrimination were the top five issues.

Ryan said: ‘I will be giving a summary of the debate regarding tackling racism and religious discrimination. I will have to highlight all of the points given for making this our 2017 campaign as well as summarising other points.’

After all the speeches are given members of the Youth Parliament will get the chance to debate the topics before participating in a vote which will determine which of the five issues is made the campaign for the UK Youth Parliament in 2017.

Ryan added: ‘I am really excited about speaking at Parliament, I am just preparing my speech and trying to make it the best it can be. Last weekend Youth Parliament arranged a specialist residential workshop, where we all crafted our debate speeches and practised them. My speech is supposed to be three minutes long, but when I rehearsed it was five minutes — I just have so much to say! But, I have managed to cut it down.’

Eighteen-months-ago Ryan was voted for by young people in his area, including youth clubs and schools, to act as their representative in UK Youth Parliament. Since then he was selected by fellow members of Youth Parliament to speak at the forthcoming debate.

Ryan said that being involved in UK Youth Parliament has given him a boost in confidence and he is now more passionate than ever about politics, culture, and the growing world around him.

‘I want to go to university and eventually I would like a career in politics. But, I am also really eager to travel, gain new experiences, and learn more about other cultures,’ said Ryan.

‘Being involved in Youth Parliament has significantly opened my views of the world, it has enabled me to meet so many new people. Some who are like-minded and others who have very different opinions, but I have found it such an enriching and educational experience.

‘I have met some important people, including MP Mel Stride, and this is an opportunity I wouldn’t have had if it weren’t for the Youth Parliament. To anyone thinking of getting involved I would highly recommend it.’

Ryan said that he looks forward to travelling to London and expressed thanks to his family for their on-going support and to his dad for often dropping him to the Exeter train station.

Ryan’s mum Rachael Harnell said: ‘As a family we are massively proud of Ryan. Getting the chance to speak at Parliament is fantastic, I just can’t express how proud we all are.’

There are more than 300 members of Youth Parliament who attend regular meetings locally, regionally and also nationally. For more information about the organisation visit www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk