But this wasn’t about choosing the next Prime Minister – it was the election of Wigan Borough’s new representatives for the UK Youth Parliament.
As Members of Youth Parliament, Jilly McKiernan and Hollie McChrystal will now represent the views of the borough’s young people at a local, regional and national level.
Jilly, 15, a Byrchall High School pupil from Ashton, said: “We are planning to make a real difference for young people.
“The UK Youth Parliament has national campaigns but we are really keen to focus on local issues as well.
“Safety for young people is a big issue and we’d like to work on improving lighting in certain areas so young people don’t feel threatened just waiting for a bus in the winter months.
“We also want to look at forms of discrimination in the media and how this creates stereotypes.
“The media constantly report bad stories on young people but we want to get them to see that it is not all young people – it is a small minority. We want them to see that because they do this, we all get tarred with the same brush.”
Jilly and 13-year-old Hollie, an Abraham Guest pupil from Pemberton, have already met with their fellow North West MYPs to discuss key campaigns for the rest of the year, and have attended a Wigan Council alcohol scrutiny meeting.
They keen to hear young people’s views and speak on behalf of Wigan Borough’s 32,000 teenagers.
Their work will be supported by their deputies Ahmed Younis and Callum Welsh, and the Wigan Youth Parliament Group.
You can get in touch with your MYPs or the Wigan Borough's Youth Parliament Group by contacting Angela Wood on 07930192311 or Maureen Edwards on 07932409913.
