Case studies "Hampshire County Youth Council: Democracy dinner"

Hampshire County Youth Council: Democracy dinner

Hampshire County Youth Service organised a democracy dinner at Winchester Guildhall for 32 people from the local community together with The Mayor of Winchester, other local councillors and prominent community members.

Together they discussed:

• How can democracy survive when fewer and fewer people support parties?
• Should there be more teaching in schools about political issues?
• Should you have more of a direct say over political decisions?
• Should referendums be used more widely?
• Should voting be made compulsory?
• Should ballot papers include a none of the above option?

The questions were discussed over a three course meal with videos of Mark Oaten MP, Boris Johnson MP and George Young MP shown, expressing their views on the issues.

Timeline: two months, ideally four

Overall budget: £1,750

Number of people working on the project: five

Useful tools: Democracy dinner feedback; democracy dinner report. The video shown on the evening can be seen via www.hcycweb.net.