On Saturday the 18th Many young members of the Labour party attended the first Young Labour political school. The event was for young members to come together and have discussions with various panels and MP's from the Labour Party. The event itself was hosted by Caroline Hill and Jasmin Beckett. The event was attended by nearly 100 young members of the party between the ages of 14 and 27 who had applied for the event.
Special appearance for Jeremy Corbyn
Whilst the Labour Party is still divided over Corbyn's Leadership many young members enjoyed the speech provided by Jeremy, Most showed their to support and the party leader was bombarded with a series of photographs and questions after his speech.
The leader discussed his policies and plans for young people and how the labour party could help young people. Many stated he was already preaching to the converted, nonetheless, the leader needed to gain further support to secure his success as party leader. Corbyn spoke about many issues the Labour party are talking about from the new focus on mental health within the NHS and conservative cuts to supporting EU nationals in the UK in the wake of Brexit. The leader discussed how he planned to fight racism and the rise of the right wing within the Uk as well as how his policy in banks and the previous economic crash under Labour. Corbyn recognised his failures up to this point as the leader and how he would fix and change this.
He gained more support with the proposed policy of returning Education eminence allowance and University maintenance grants.
Special fringe events
The young members were given the chance to attend two fringe events within the day, one in the morning and none in the afternoon. The events featured talks from trade unions, the current Syrian situation, LGTB and Labour, how to get involved in the local elections throughout 2017, migration, NHS bursaries, taking anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and organising campaigns.
All members enjoyed these events and got involved giving opinions and asking questions, The events all featured guest speakers who offered their support and help for the members,
Workplace 2020
The conference featured the announcement of a new labour scheme called workplace 2020. This talk described the campaign and how a Labour government was the only way to provide a secure future for young people within employment.
The talk had union representatives as well as MP jack Dromey. The talk engaged many young supporters and encouraged many to come forward with stories of discrimination in employment. Most stories were extremely moving and have encouraged many to get involved in the new scheme.
Tackling the rise of the far right in Britain
The last talk featured speakers from hope not hate and a survivor of the white supremacist attack in Norway against the young labour moment by Andres Brevik. The speech discussed how members could tackle the rise of the right wing in different ways from stopping fake news on social media to campaigning. The rise of the far right in Britain has been an increasing worry for the Labour Party since Brexit and is something very close to a lot of supporters hearts. Again many moving stories were shared about those who ahs faced discrimination in the wake of Brexit
