news story

9th September 2009

Leading MP Visits Yate

Lynne Featherstone MP (Front Row, second from Right) with Steve Webb MP and some of the local young people at last night’s event at Poole Court, Yate

A leading Lib Dem MP visited Yate earlier this week (8th Sept) to hear the views of local young people and to help raise funds to send a young person to the Lib Dem annual conference.

The event was the annual ‘Heather Larkins lecture’, held in memory of former Avon County Councillor and schoolteacher Heather Larkins who stood for the Lib Dems in Northavon in 1992. This year, 19 year-old Pete Heath from Thornbury will be attending the party conference for the first time funded by the bursary, to learn more about how political campaigning works.

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green and a regular panellist on BBC’s Question Time, spoke on the subject ‘Where is the British Obama?’. Lynne, who is Youth and Equality Spokesperson for the Lib Dems, argued that British politicians could learn from the Obama campaign. She said that there was a need to enthuse people at all levels to become aware of and involved in local politics and stressed the need to communicate in language that people could understand. Lynne highlighted the fact that Barack Obama had received a high quality education which had helped him make progress despite the disadvantages of his humble background and said that the UK was not doing enough to help people make the most of their potential.

The talk prompted a lively debate covering issues such as involving young people in politics and how the Liberal Democrats could break through the ‘two-party’ mould of British politics.

Commenting, Steve Webb said:

‘The event was a great success. I was delighted to see young people engaging and inspired to take an active role in their community. Lynne Featherstone has led the way in using the internet and e-mail to communicate with her electorate, and for many younger people this is the most effective way of engaging them in the political process. We were reminded that one of the most important features of the Obama campaign was the way that people were involved at the grassroots, and this is something that we must never forget”.