YOUNG Lancastrians are spearheading moves to make sure youth views are heard at the top level in governments across Europe.

The county's Youth Ambassadors recently received delegations from Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to progress plans for a Europe-wide system to champion young people's views.

Youth councils have long been established in Lancashire, allowing young people to have their say on local issues.

The Youth Ambassadors scheme has been pioneered in the county to give young people stronger representation in regional and national government in the UK.

It has now been extended to European states and youth ambassadors from across the continent have agreed a portfolio of issues they want their national leaders to address.

Arif Khan, Lead Youth Ambassador for Lancashire, said: "Young people in this country often feel the issues that matter to them are ignored by politicians and the same applies across Europe.

"In Lancashire youth councils are making a real difference in giving us an influence but there is still a long way to go in making sure young people are better represented at national and international level.

"This week we've been working with our counterparts from other countries to put together an agenda of issues that represent young people across Europe.

"We have a lot of common concerns and if we can all work collectively to highlight these issues to our national politicians and at EU level we will have a much stronger voice."

The five countries now involved in the scheme are part of a trans-national pilot scheme to progress the Youth Ambassadors concept in Europe.

The programme, funded by European money, offers progression opportunities to young people who have previously been involved in voluntary youth empowerment or leadership work.

The next step for the Youth Ambassadors will be to secure placements in government offices, political committees, embassies and commissions to find out more about how top-level decisions are made and seek to influence them.

Arif Khan added: "Under-representation of young people is a real issue right across Europe politicians claim to be concerned that young people are disconnected from the democratic process and often don't bother to vote.

"It's not that we don't care about politics or the wider world but simply that decisions on issues such as the environment, lack of youth facilities and uncertainties over jobs and education often appear to be taken with little regard for the young people they most affect."

"We hope the agenda we have now agreed to highlight will be a starting point for governments to listen to and begin addressing some of our concerns."

Some of the issues the Youth Ambassadors will be taking forward include xenophobia, sexual health, youth justice and youth representation in local government.