Make me Prime Minister! at 3Generate

A “new” Prime Minister was elected at last year’s 3Generate following a successful campaign by Martha Walker, leader of the Biscuits Party. She was elected by her peers following a close-run election that took place at the first Action for Children Make me Prime Minister! workshop.

Martha Walker, leader of the Biscuit Party said, “Our core policy is to look at migration, to bring people to the UK safely and provide jobs. Another policy is to reduce the working week to four days and our final policy is to help the NHS that has been struggling since the pandemic.”

About twenty young people aged 14 to 23 years old attended Make me Prime Minister! at the 3Generate Town Hall. The idea is simple; the attendees form four groups. Each creates and names their political party, picks a Prime Minister, a cabinet and one or two main policies then they brainstorm the funding and write the speeches.  All in under 30 minutes.

The Action for Children team were on hand to support them. “We thought it would be great fun to see what the young people came up with for policies and put them in the pressure cooker that is politics to see how they fared,” explains Rachel Allison, Public Affairs Manager at Action for Children.

Several of the parties had strong environmental policies including combustion taxes that would finance renewable energies, investing in farmers to limit the use of pesticides and increasing insulation in buildings. Other policies included free University for all and reform of the police.

After the four candidates for Prime Minister gave their speeches, the floor was open to questions, with debate about how each party intended to fund their policies.  

The Biscuits Party finally won the election. Its leader, new Prime Minister, Martha Walker commented, “I think it's really important that we, as young people get involved in politics as this is our future and our life. I also think that we've not had enough female representatives. I'm very happy with the outcome and I enjoyed the experience.”