2024 was undeniably a year filled with seismic events. A general election upended 14 years, 1 month, and 24 days of consecutive Conservative governments. The British Youth Council (BYC), a titan in the youth voice industry, shut down after independantly operating since 1963. A series of global events in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, and more have reshaped the political landscape across the world.
It is, undeniably, the end of a new era, both for youth politics in the UK and for the world at large. So, as we close out 2024, here’s a small slice of my year.
The year got off to a slow start; January was only notable as I was elected as the chair of Kent Youth County Council’s (KYCC) public transport campaign, and February had nothing of note.
March is when things began to kick off. I was reelected as one of the Kentish Members for Youth Parliament (MYPs) for another two years, expecting a similar routine to the previous two. Then, on the 21st, right after the Make Your Mark results for 2024 dropped (view them here, archived by the folks at Young Voices Heard), I got a call from a friend telling me to look at the BYC instagram page.
BYC had, without much noise nor notice, announced they were winding up operations. Immediately, myself and other MYPs were in conversation, concerned as to what this meant for the Youth Parliament (UKYP). On a pure whim and since I had a sick day thanks to the flu, I put together a letter to Department for Culture, Media, and Sport on the situation and created a form for people to sign it. Did I think more than 50 people would see it, let alone sign it? No, not at all. But it seems I struck a nerve, because on the same day I attracted 100 signatures.
Suddenly, life went a bit crazy. I had multiple groups of people trying to get in touch with me, articles getting written up about my efforts, and detractors breathing down my neck thinking I was making a fool of myself. But, before I could stop to even process what had happened, Minister Stuart Andrew had responded to my letter, and invited me for a meeting. Read his response in plaintext here.
At the same time, I was in conversation with a few individuals as to where we went from here, but in regards to UKYP, it was an open secret that the folks at the National Youth Agency (NYA) would be taking over UKYP’s contract on a temporary basis. Before long, an announcement was made that NYA had successfully won the contract and would be facilitating UKYP for the 2024-25 period.
Life didn’t stop moving in the meanwhile though – GCSEs had truly gotten underway and I saw the Government press release right after walking out of my sociology exam. As well as this, I had been in touch with a wonderful man called Michael Doran who was planning to set up an advocacy group called Step Together Say More, intent on changing the stigma surrounding mental health, and I was offered the role of Public Relations Manager. I took to the role with both hands and it’s a position I still hold today. We’re working on a new big project, which I’m excited for you all to see, so watch this space.
June came in and as the Pride celebrations abounded I was taken up to London by Participation People for one of their wonderful projects. This time, I was working with the folks at GSMA on their mPower Youth project, which was a great opportunity to work directly with industry leaders on how they can bring youth perspectives into the business of connectivity. It was a truly insightful experience, and I hope everyone there was able to take away something on how they can use their work to better the lives of young people.
June meant something else – the beginning of my (short-lived) podcast, Copolitical. I was talking to my friend and fellow youth councillor October about the upcoming general election, and we both agreed that young people didn’t really want to engage with traditional media surrounding politics, so we endeavoured to create a solution. One domain purchase and an hour in Canva later, and we were ready to go. This culminated in 26 episodes covering every corner of British and international politics, before growing obligations forced us to go on hiatus, one which continues to this day. Whilst we never officially killed it (October still believes it could be resurrected one day), it was never meant to be. Hopefully someone else can carry the torch we couldn’t get across the finish line.
Next up, July. The month immediately kicked off with another wonderful Participation People project, as I was invited to deliver a lecture at Kings College London surrounding social media. It was one of those things you can’t refuse, and something that will stay with me (and my CV) to the day I die. The audience was great, and my thanks go to KCL for having us.
The general election came and went, and, yes, I did do the rounds on the doors. We learnt that, unsurprisingly given the polls, Labour had won and Sir Keir Starmer was our new Prime Minister. Staying up all night to watch the counts was a lovely experience, but meant I wasn’t best prepped for another signficant event – the annual KYCC residential, which was the very next day. Whilst we did get good work done, it was also a great excuse to hang out with good friends and enjoy teambuilding activities.
Soon enough, the summer holidays were upon us and I was immersed in more personal activities, which I won’t bore you with here. GCSE results day came and went, and I was in Sixth Form before I knew it. September skipped by, and then October was upon us.
This meant one thing – it was the month of Kent’s Big Mental Health Conversation. Students from schools across the county descended on Detling Showground to discuss mental health, find out how to live healthy, and to pat some alpacas. It was a fun-filled day with plenty of activities, and it’s a day off school so who can complain? I was running KYCC’s social media, one of the more fun jobs on site, and my single task was to capture the day’s events and vibe – a task I’d say I pulled off successfully. I was even interviewed by KMTV! Watch here.
However, October was also significant for another reason – the UKYP Annual Conference. This is a yearly opportunity for MYPs from across the country to come together seeking solutions to the problems young people face. It was a great event, and despite almost being scuppered entirely due to BYC’s sudden shutdown, the great folks at NYA were able to create a wonderful forum for us all to come and work together. I left appreciating new approaches and tactics learnt from colleagues all over, and I even made a few friends along the way. It taught me that, despite uncertain times and threats to our representative bodies, the voice of youth cannot truly be silenced.
November was another significant month. Firstly, I was invited by Amnesty International to join their Youth Conference as part of my role running Maidstone Grammar School’s Amnesty society. It was highly useful, teaching me every tip and trick you could know when it comes to campaigning. I left armed with everything I needed to know to support Amnesty in their campaigns, and I’d recommend anyone else in those circles to come along next year. It’s valuable and you won’t regret it.
UK Parliament Week was also observed, and I helped to run my local Explorer Scout Unit’s (ESU) meeting. William’s Warriors ESU filled the room with high-quality debate surrounding contemporary issues that directly affect them, overseen by Cllrs Sarah Hudson and Kim Tanner. The group voted in favour of banning single use vapes, in favour of legalising cannabis, and in favour of assisted dying.
Later in the month, I attended the Children and Young People Now (CYPNow) Awards, hosted by the magazine of the same name. Now, I had been secretly working as a judge for the awards since August after being invited by James Cathcart of Young Voices Heard, something I thank him greatly for, but this is what it all culminated in. I was given the honour of presenting the Digital Innovation Award, which was won by the folks at Gamechanger. They use interactive resources and experiences to raise awareness of major social issues for children and young people, combining virtual reality technology with engaging drama and activity-based workshops focusing on themes such as county lines drug trafficking and knife crime. It’s a project that truly deserves this prestigious award, and all the winners from that night should be proud of their great achievement. Again, thanks to Young Voices Heard and CYPNow for having me, and to all the wonderful people I met during the evening. Learn more about the awards here.
That’s not all for November though, no, there’s one more thing. On the very final day of the month MYPs from the South East, London, and East of England descended on the nation’s capital to meet-up, upskill, and network as part of NYA’s YouthCon. We participated in the age-old tradition of Forgeford, a constituency simulator that prepares us for the best (and worst) that comes with being an MYP. It was a great experience, and the skills that were learnt are definitely things I’ll be applying in my own constituency work.
With that, 2024 comes to a close. December has been fairly quiet, with only the final KYCC meeting of the year making a mark on my calendar. This year’s campaigns have been fairly successful – the Public Transport group has worked with Southeastern on a project which I’ll keep tight-lipped about for now, but which should launch soon, and the Feeling Safe in Kent group has coproduced new resources with Kent Police surrounding stop and search, which are now being deployed across the force. However, a new year means new campaigns, and this year our three central campaigns are free school meals and tackling poverty, public transport, and mental health and wellbeing.
At the meeting, I was awarded KYCC’s Member of the year, which I’m thankful for. Our annual awards are nominated by the membership, so my thanks go out to every youth councillor which put my name down for this award – I’ll cherish it for years to come.
It’s time for me to round out this blog post, which has grown inordinately lengthy, so congratulations if you’ve gotten to this part. It’s coming to a close, I promise.
Thanks to everyone whose shaped it my year. None of this is purely my own doing, and I owe so many people so much for the help they’ve given me throughout the year.
As we look forward to 2025, I’m reminded of how I thought the year in youth voice would be a fairly routine repeat of the standard meetings and occasional events. I didn’t foresee the turmoil we were due to endure as a community, and I’m sure many MYPs were in the same boat as me. So I approach the new year with a cautious optimism, but I’ve already got a few ideas in the early stages of taking shape that could make next year an exciting one.
Expect the unexpected, 2025 is sure to surprise us.
Thank you for reading,
Hadyn Cutler
PS – What’s going on with the blog
I used to do montly updates, but (as I’m sure is obvious) these have ceased. Regular updates will continue to go out on social media, but the website will only be used for blog posts like this or for campaigns like the BYC Open Letter. As such, my experiment, Amplified, is also closing down for the foreseeable future. Find me everywhere @hadyncutler, and now on Bluesky @hadyn.bsky.social.
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Hadyn Cutler MYP 
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