How to be in a national newspaper
How I did it: I got involved with local politics at quite a young age, and helped to establish a Youth Council in my area so that young people could get their views heard by the local council. I also did other things like campaign against the local Family Planning centre being shut down.
The natural progression was to stand for election so when the local council elections came round, I stood for District Councillor in the ward of Spalding Wygate in Lincolnshire.
A few months before my intentions were announced, the national law was changed so people could stand for council at 18, rather than 21.
I stood at the age of 18, and was the youngest female candidate in the whole of the country. This is why the national media picked up on it. They wanted to know why in times like these where political apathy amongst young people runs very low, I wanted to stand for council.
I was very fortunate in that I had an experienced campaign manager running my campaign. He was born in my local area and had family there, so came back to help despite the fact he was now based in London with his own ongoing Parliamentary campaigning happening.
Lessons & tips: Be careful what you say, think how easily sentences can be clipped and manipulated.
