McInnes salutes young parliamentarians

3.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 19th Jun 2008

Aberdeenshire MSP Alison McInnes today met pupils from Ellon Academy who were visiting Holyrood to receive their awards for the Citizenship Foundation's National Youth Parliament Competition.

As well as the three pupils who were receiving individual prizes, the academy was a joint runner up in the team competition.

Congratulating the school, Mrs McInnes said: "The National Youth Parliament Competition is a fantastic way of getting young people involved in the political process, and I am absolutely delighted that our local school has achieved such success.

"The pupils have to take on the roles of MSPs, and hold their own parliamentary debates - and judging by their accomplishments, I may have to seek some advice from them!"

Ellon Academy won their award for a debate on providing free school meals to all pupils in Scotland.

Commenting further, Mrs McInnes said: "The varied subjects that were covered by the schools in the competition demonstrate that our young people have much to contribute to the political debate, provided they have the chance to do so. I hope that this experience will encourage the pupils of Ellon Academy to continue to play an active role in politics, and that their shining example will be followed by other young people across the North East."