Since I started working in politics, I’ve been keen to lift up other young people (if I can still put myself in that category) interested in community-based action. So, when Kyra emailed us asking for some work experience, I was more than happy to oblige.

This past week, she’s been a great asset to the office – shadowing each of our office members, learning about everything that goes on behind the scenes, covering campaigning, speech writing, casework, media relations and more.

Myself and the team wanted to make sure Kyra was given meaningful work with real responsibility, and as part of that challenge, we’ve asked her to reflect on her time in the office and offer an insight into the world of politics using her own words.

I hope Kyra’s summary gives young people from Crewe and Nantwich a genuine idea of what it’s like to work in my office, and if any of you feel inspired – don’t hesitate to get in touch and come experience it for yourselves! Just drop us an email at [email protected]

For full transparency, no one in the team persuaded Kyra to join the Labour Party, and we encourage young people of any political ilk to come and learn more about how the system works.

Kyra’s Week in Politics

My name is Kyra and I spent this week in Connor Naismith’s office for my work experience. This week has been a wonderful opportunity for me to experience life in politics and all the other positions within an office. I was very surprised to discover how incredibly passionate Connor and his team are about Crewe and Nantwich. Hours are spent helping the public resolve issues every day, responding to problems others would ignore.

I began the week learning about Connor’s role and how he got into politics, I also learned about everyone’s roles, campaign working, case working and social media managing. I was shown the workings of different positions such as a managing role where I learned the ways a manger would manage a team. Each role is extremely important and no one ever has nothing to do.

I visited their Small Business of the Month winner, along with Connor, to award them with their framed certificate.

I also visited Brine Leas school where Connor performed a presentation to multiple groups of year 8 students. He taught them about the role of a MP and the different houses of Parliament. I also found this extremely educational as I believe there should be a topic inside of the education system that educates students on the workings of the government.

All staff within the office were extremely welcoming and helpful, they answered all my questions and elaborated on any topics I was interested in. It was extremely refreshing to work with a group of people who care about the community and want to change it for the better.

I partook in multiple activities such as speech writing, campaign creating, and even a hypothetical situation in which I decided what my policies would be if made MP. All these activities were extremely eye opening into the world of politics and helpful towards my future goals. Just 3 days into the week inside the office I signed up to become a Labour member, just from observing the office I knew that their policies lined up with mine.

Another thing that surprised me was that everyone matters in their office, no matter how seemingly small the issue. Everyone wants to make a difference and impact the area as positively as possible. Connor really enjoys interacting with the community and helping in any way he can.

This experience is definitely one I will never forget, it has pushed me towards politics not just in the future but now, as I was previously not as involved I am now keen to become involved with the youth politics committee.