Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Gordon Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his work; it is good to see that he continues to be an active constituency MP. One of the best parts about this role for us all is going to visit our primary and secondary schools and meeting young people—we never know what questions we are going to get. I praise the campaigning efforts of the young people from Brompton Community primary school, and encourage all young people in other schools to carry out similar community engagements.

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

I would like to put on the record some fantastic youth organisations, such as Harrogate Youth Council in my constituency, that do their bit to engage young people in democracy. My office manager will attest that I also do my bit by having an endless stream of work experience students through the office door—much to her frustration given the number of people who are interested.

One of those students, Benjy, told me recently that he is really excited that in future young people will be able to vote, but he said that there was an unequal opportunity in education when it comes to accessing social media for young people. One way that young people will get information about voting will be through social media. What steps is the Minister taking with other Departments to ensure that young people can find information online?

[Florence Eshalomi]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that important point. It is important that we understand that young people receive information about voting through many different means, including through social media, and I know that colleagues in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport are looking at challenges around misinformation and fake news circulating online. It is important that we look at the places where young people spend the majority of their time—schools and educational settings—and ensure that our teachers, trainers and carers are equipped to engage with our young people in the right way. The democratic engagement fund will be key to helping with that and the Electoral Commission is also looking at the issue of online engagement.