Children's Express puts local General Election candidates through their paces.
| There’s probably money misspent somewhere that could be channelled towards youth clubs. |
Labour candidate Jeremy Corbyn is fed up with young people being told they are the cause of all our problems. The cause of the problems are the society they have been brought up in, he told the young reporters of Children's Express.
During his grilling last week at Children's Express HQ, he advocated more cash to be spent on youth and leisure facilities in the borough and to improve Islington for its youngsters.
When we asked him what was the most important thing to young people he didn't say education which was quite a shock, said Senab Adekunle, 14. Most MPs think that education is the most important thing - education, exams. Get a job.
He didn't say what he thought we wanted to hear and I think that shows he was being honest with us, added 12-year-old Juanita Rosenior.
Simon Fawthrop, the Conservative candidate, wants to remove all political governors from schools. I object to the fact that they make up school policies. I'd like to see schools put before politics, he said.
Mr Fawthrop talked about the falling standard of education, blaming the Labour council, the need to improve youth facilities and cleaning up Islington's open spaces.
I would try to introduce youth clubs. This can often be done through partnership. It's fair to say that there's probably money misspent somewhere that could be channelled towards youth clubs, he added.
I didn't think that he was very in touch with young people, said 14-year-old Kathleen Dawes. I don't think that he was ready for the questions we asked him. I think he was quite surprised, even though he was trying to read them off our paper before we'd asked, added Stuart Fletcher,14.
Young people have told Liberal Democrat candidate James Kempton that they have a difficult relationship with the police. They feel that when something goes wrong they get blamed for it. But I think that the police are trying very hard to break down the barriers, he believed.
Mr Kempton wanted to see Islington using its open spaces for organised sports, to be able to create jobs for young people, improve education and get young people involved in politics and decision making.
Although all of the young journalists welcomed his plan to raise more money for education they thought that most adult voters would not want to pay more.
He's planning to raise all this money, but at the moment not a lot of people care, said Kim Ijoyah, 11. I hope he does make a change because we need it. He seemed like a good MP, added Gillian Antwi-Bosiako, 10.
Green Party candidate Chris Ashby admitted that he didn't know very much about young people, but stressed that the Greens were not a single-issue party. They have plans to scrap the National Curriculum and make education available throughout life and have a set of policies to make everyone equal in opportunity.
The Green Party does better when young people vote in mock elections, explained Mr Ashby. We may not be perfect but at least we try to think about what is going on - young people recognise that. I only wish it was the other way round.
Rachel Bulford, 16, who lives in Islington, wasn't surprised that more young people vote for the Green Party. They don't have to worry about other things. I think that the other political parties should automatically take note of the environment; we shouldn't need a specific party to raise the awareness.
Most of the young people felt that their needs were being ignored by all the candidates.
I think that adults only care about themselves - kids' opinions don't matter to them. They don't really listen to us - just because we are kids doesn't mean we haven't got good things to say. Things would be different if they actually listened to us, said Michelle Ijoyah, 10.
About the team
Interviews by Rachel Bulford, 16, Stuart Fletcher, 14, Kathleen Dawes, 14, and Senab Adekunle, 14, and reporters: Michelle Ijoyah, 10, Kim Ijoyah, 11, Gillian Antwi-Bosiako, 10, Eugene Asare, 12, Fab Anderson, 11, and Juanita Rosenoir, 12. Edited by Rachel Bulford. This article was published in the Highbury & Islington Express.
