Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

John Slinger Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

I wish to pay tribute to the late Sir David Amess. I did not have the privilege of meeting him, but his reputation clearly precedes him, as does that of the late Jo Cox. I am a member of the Speaker’s Conference, and we are doing all we can to propose the changes needed, and get the culture shift required to deter and prevent the intimidation of candidates and elected officials at all levels, so that our precious democracy can thrive. That is particularly vital if we are to encourage young people to get involved in our political system.

The doom mongers are wrong about our young people. Far from being a problem, they are our greatest natural resource—one that is often under-utilised, and that we must unleash. I have tried to do this in my constituency, including by holding a “pitch your policy” event. Young people pitched in one minute the one new policy idea or law change that they would bring in. There were then two minutes of questions from the audience, followed by a vote. Some lacked confidence; others came to the event straight from a basketball session—a good illustration of the fact that we need to go to the places where young people are, and listen. I took the winning idea to the Chamber, where the Leader of the House responded to it, and I thank her for that.

We should bring the voices of young people into the corridors of power, because young people are genuinely interested in their communities, their lives, their country and definitely our world. They have excellent ideas to bring to the fore. They are going to inherit the future; we had better encourage them to engage with politics, so that they can be the architects of that future, rather than merely existing in a world designed by generations past, who have, to put it politely, singularly failed to create a world of opportunity for all our young people.

The voices of young people are not being heard enough; the focus is all too often elsewhere. For example, we heard much noise about the alleged attack on pensioners by the Government. If we zoomed out and looked down from outer space, we would see it is actually the younger generation who have been neglected by Governments of all stripes. Young people do not get a triple lock. They should. They are the generation for whom buying their own home is out of reach, and they have far less job security than previous generations.

Earlier in the week, in a social media video, I asked people to leave a comment saying what changes older generations would need to make for the younger generation to have more influence in politics and lead an empowered life. A. McCaslin said:

“We need the same opportunities that the generation before us had. They dismantled the ladder they used to build their lives and then told us to figure it out like they did.”

When people say to me, “I don’t do politics,” my response is, “Well, politics does you. If you’re not involved, you cede the ground to those who understand the power of politics.” I have been proud to be part of a Government who are rectifying that.

Finally, I want to say, in the limited time I have left, a thank you to all Members of this House and all staff. They have shown newbies like me only support and kindness. The right hon. Member for Herne Bay and Sandwich (Sir Roger Gale) epitomises that—a good example from this generation to the next.