Youngsters in Barking and Dagenham go to the polls in youth elections

MPs grappling with Brexit weren’t the only ones with an important vote to cast this week.

Young people have also been voting for their favourite candidates in secondary schools and youth groups up and down the borough in the Barking and Dagenham Youth Forum election.

Nick Pauro, assistant headteacher at All Saints Catholic School in Wood Lane, Dagenham said on Tuesday: “The ballot boxes are really filling up.

“It’s fantastic. The turnout has been great.”

And the school tweeted: “Ballot boxes are filling up showing that our young people are always engaged and willing to make the world a better place one step at a time”.

Six of All Saints’ boys and 13 of their girls put themselves forward as candidates this year.

The forum is made up of one boy and one girl from each of the borough’s secondary schools. It was set up in 2001 by young people who wanted to have a say on issues affecting their lives and communities including crime, mental health and education.

Its 2019 members are due to meet at the Vibe youth centre in Becontree Avenue, Dagenham every week.