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What do young people in the Black Country and Staffordshire want from the election?

Climate change, the NHS and mental health are among the issues concerning first time voters ahead of tomorrow's polling day.

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Emerson Hanslip, aged 17 from Dudley, a member of Dudley Youth Council and a Youth Commissioner

Young people across the Black Country have been sharing their views on the upcoming General Election.

Speaking on what matters most to them, a number of youngsters shared their fears about climate change, preserving the NHS, mental health provision and knife crime.

Kamran Khan, from Walsall, who turns 18 on the day of the election

Kamran Khan, from Walsall, who turns 18 on polling day, said: "When I vote on December 12 for the first time, I will vote on behalf of our NHS, our planet and Walsall.

"I am planning to go into medicine and the NHS is a life-saving and incredible British institution. We need to protect it.

"The climate crisis is also a pressing issue. We need progressive and radical ideas to solve it – 5p bags are not going to solve global warming, we need solutions on the same scale as our problems.

"As young people, we have the most to lose, so it’s important we keep voting, so politicians change policies to focus on our needs."

Many also said they believed politicians were out of touch with the views of young people.

Kamran added: "The Conservative mantra of ‘getting Brexit done’ and the Brexit Party do not represent the majority of young people who could not vote in the 2016 referendum.

"Whereas the Labour Party and the Green Party are focusing on young people’s issues like housing and education and the climate crisis.

"Different parties are focusing on different groups. Boris Johnson’s Islamaphobic and racist comments mean a lot of young people in a multicultural town like Walsall will not be able to vote for his party.

"As a British Muslim, there is no way I could ever vote for Boris Johnson’s Conservatives."

Other young people from across the region also spoke about cuts to youth spending and what should be done to improve current services.

Emerson Hanslip, 17, from Dudley, a member of Dudley Youth Council and a youth commissioner

Emerson Hanslip, 17, a youth commissioner for Dudley Council, said: "The most effective youth centres are the ones that give young people ownership of the service.

"I think it's about creating quality youth centres rather than just some statistics to put on a piece of paper. More money definitely needs to be put into it.

"There is a step in the right direction for organisations and politicians starting to listen to young people."

Chair of the youth council, Harley Keasey, 15, added: "We're quite lucky in Dudley that the council value the youth voice and our input and in the past some of us have had good relationships with people in the council, but I don't think this is the case for all areas.

"Something that's not really focused on enough is young people's mental health because there is a lot of pressure put on us with exams and stress and I don't think that this is put into focus enough at schools."

One of the most common fears expressed was job prospects, particularly for graduates.

Harley Keasey, aged 15, Chair of Dudley Youth Council

Hollie Edwards, 20 and from Cannock, said: "I'm in my second year of studying environmental science at university.

"When I graduate I'll be leaving with more than £50,000 worth of debt to my name. I'd like to know where my fees are really going.

"I would never vote for the Liberal Democrats after what they did to the students, promising to abolish tuition fees and then raising them even further.

"The cost of these fees, combined with how extortionate rent is as a student, just means we're in a cycle that seems impossible to break.

"And then at the end of it there are so few jobs for graduates available, I'm incredibly worried for my generation's future."

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