New member of Youth Parliament announced (From Sutton Guardian)

Sutton's Youth parliament gets Carshalton student Johnoi Josephs on board

2:10pm Tuesday 30th October 2012 in News By James Pepper

A new member of the Sutton Youth Parliament has been elected.

Johnoi Josephs of Carshalton Boys Sports College was formally announced as the new Sutton Youth MP at the Youth Parliament Inter Schools Debate competition on Thursday night (October 25).

The 17-year-old polled 3,486 votes more than twice as many as the runner-up Jonathan Austin, also 17, of Cheam High School.

In total 10,098 votes were cast, a turnout of 56 per cent.

Mr Johnoi said: "I am ecstatic about winning the election and with such a high turnout.

"I believe that this community really wants change and I will try my best to make this happen."

The newly-elected MYP will shadow the current incumbent, Anna Clark, until her term of office ends in March next year and he will then officially take over the role.

His duties will include attending UK Youth Parliament London meetings and events including the UK Youth Parliament Annual House Sitting and House of Commons debate to represent Sutton.

He will also lead on the UK Youth Parliament national campaigns in Sutton and on local campaigns – which should suit him as he pledged to fight to save St Helier Hospital and improve facilities for young people in his manifesto.

Councillor Dave Callaghan, Chairman of Sutton's children, family and education committee, said: "Congratulations to Johnoi on winning such a resounding victory. I’m sure he’ll really enjoy his time as MYP.

"Not only is it very satisfying to see that Johnoi is ready to play his part in helping make Sutton a better place, but also to see how engaged the students across all of our schools were in taking part in the election and making their voices heard."