Giving youth voice to the Future of Westminster

On London’s recent examination of How Westminster's first-time Labour council has been doing focuses on the external expertise which is informing the wide-ranging Future of Westminster Commission . This is covering four broad policy areas: housing; energy and green transition; fairness and equality; economy and employment. ?Whilst this will take time to bear fruit, one of the Council’s early masterstrokes, and a significant break with its Conservative past, was the appointment last May of Councillor Hamza Taouzzale ; at 22 the youngest Lord Mayor of Westminster, and the borough's first Muslim to hold the office. ?

Hamza was first elected in 2018 for the ward of Queen’s Park whilst studying for a degree in politics at Goldsmiths. He was also part of a team of young peer researchers who, under the guidance of Young Westminster Foundation (YWF) and Rocket Science , produced A City Within A City (2018) followed by Our City, Our Future (2020/21).?These path-breaking studies have contributed to a growing hyper-local evidence base on what it’s like to grow up in Westminster, and how this has changed post-pandemic and in the face of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

YWF, with financial support from The Howard de Walden Estate, The Westminster Foundation, Kusuma Trust UK and St Giles & St George Education Charity, is engaging a new cohort of young researchers over the summer of 2023 to ensure there continues to be a powerful youth voice in shaping the future of Westminster.?If you’d like to find out more about this research please contact Alistair Ross or [email protected] or?click here.