Joining first Welsh Youth Parliament 'incredible'

The members of the first Welsh Youth Parliament have been announced.

The parliament is made up of 60 young people, 40 of whom were elected in an online ballot, with a further 20 from organisations and charities.

The first meeting will take place in February and the winning candidates will each serve a two-year term.

Cardiff West winner Manon Clarke said it was "incredible" to have a chance to ensure young people's voices would be heard "for the first time".

Manon, from Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr, said joining the new parliament "means so much to me", and she had "put in a lot of work promoting myself on social media platforms" to get there.

"I think the voice of someone aged 11 to 18 is just as important as any other," she told BBC Wales Today.

"I think often young people's voices go unheard, and for the first time ever we have the chance, so it's incredible."

All 11 to 18-year-olds in Wales were eligible to vote, with about 13,000 registering to choose from a group of 480 candidates.

Partner organisations include Girlguiding Cymru, Youth Cymru, Tros Gynnal Plant, Voices from Care, Barnardo's Cymru and Learning Disability Wales, with the aim of ensuring diversity and inclusivity for the new body.

Greta Evans, said it was "an honour" to be representing Welsh language youth body the Urdd in the parliament, and she wanted to promote Welsh in schools and "as a national language".

She also wanted to address mental health issues, she said.

"I see it in my friends, I see it in my year group, it's everywhere and it's something we definitely need to tackle," Greta said.

"And the third thing is the environment. There are lots of issues with plastic and pollution, especially in Cardiff, so those are the issues we're definitely going to be tackling."

Evan Burgess, from Aberconwy said it was a chance to tackle issues children face by bringing those issues to a national level.

Speaking before the results were announced, at the beginning of Senedd proceedings, he said: "There are issues you will face as a child no matter where you are in Wales and to bring those issues and problems up to a national level is going to be a really good way to tackle those problems."

During the campaign Evan said his top priorities were growing the Welsh economy, increasing sustainable tourism and improving transport.

Presiding Officer Elin Jones said it was "more than appropriate" that young people had the chance to discuss their futures and "inform" the opinions of AMs.

She said: "The Senedd itself will listen to the voice of young people and there will be a mutual respect.

"There will be debate between the young people and the National Assembly itself, so that they do ultimately influence policies and decisions that will be taken that will affect their lives more so than any of ours."

She added the parliament will not just be a "talking shop".