Chances are you have not heard much about the Scottish Youth Parliament elections happening this year. They are not something that tends to come up in everyday university life, and with few posters or other reminders around Glasgow outside of schools, it can be easy for the elections to pass under the radar. That is a shame, because it is an initiative worth knowing about and an opportunity for young people to have their voices heard.

So what is it?

The Scottish Youth Parliament, or SYP, is exactly what it sounds like: a democratically elected parliament made up of young people aged 12 to 25 from all over Scotland. It has been running since 1999, and its whole purpose is to make sure the views of young people actually reach the people making decisions in Holyrood and beyond. Members, known as MSYPs (Members of Scottish Youth Parliament), are elected every two years by young people in their constituency, the same way MPs and MSPs are elected, just with a much younger electorate and a much younger set of candidates.

It is not a mock parliament or a school council with a fancy name. MSYPs sit on government working groups, respond to consultations, run campaigns on issues like mental health and the cost of living, and regularly meet with government ministers to push for policy change. Past SYP campaigns have had a real hand in shaping things, such as lowering the voting age to 16 as well as bringing free bus travel for under 22’s.

How does it actually work?

Scotland is split into constituencies, largely mirroring the Scottish Parliament ones, and each returns 2 MSYPs (with exception in Renfrewshire and Cardonald due to the other being elected through Renfrewshire council). There are also voluntary representatives elected from various National Voluntary Organisations across Scotland (such as Scouts and YMCA). Anyone aged 14 to 25 can stand as a candidate, and anyone aged 12 to 25 can vote, regardless of whether they are in school, college, university, working, or none of the above. Campaigns run for a few weeks before polling opens, usually online, and results are announced not long after.

Once elected, MSYPs sit for a two-year term. They attend national sittings a few times a year, sit on committees, and are expected to actually go out and engage with the young people in their area rather than just show up to meetings and disappear. It is a genuine commitment, not a line for your CV (even if it does look good on one).

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) is also politically impartial and does not allow party politics, meaning MSYPs represent their constituents’ actual views, as opposed to a political party’s stance or agenda (regardless of the MSYP’s own personal politics).

Why should university students actually care?

Here is the thing a lot of people miss: SYP is not just for school pupils. Anyone up to 25 can vote, and plenty of MSYPs are university students themselves. That matters a lot for us, because the issues SYP campaigns on regularly touch things that affect students directly. Mental health provision, the cost of living, transport, housing, and access to education have all been on SYP’s agenda in recent years, and those are not exactly niche concerns for anyone paying Glasgow rent prices right now.

The other reason it matters is representation. Decisions about young people get made in Holyrood constantly, and a lot of those decisions land on students without students ever being properly consulted first. SYP exists to close that gap. If nobody from the student population bothers to vote or stand, the loudest voices in the room end up being the ones who were never actually going to feel the consequences of the policy in question.
There is also a more immediate reason to pay attention this year.

What can you actually do about it?

Vote, for a start, if you are eligible (most Strathclyde students under 25 should be eligible). Ensure you have your Young Scot Card as soon as possible, as you will need it in order to vote. Follow the campaigns, see who is standing in your area, and pay attention to what they are actually proposing rather than just their poster design. And if any of this has struck a chord, then maybe consider getting involved yourself in the next election cycle in 2028, or perhaps even earlier if there is a by-election. SYP is always looking for people willing to show up and do the unglamorous work of representing others, and university students are exactly the kind of people it needs more of.

Elections are coming up this November. It takes about five minutes to vote once registration opens, and it is one of the few chances most of us get to have a direct say in who represents young people in this country. Worth using it, in my opinion, at least.