A CREWE man has been selected to take part in a special debate at this autumn's Labour Party Conference.

Paul Clare, from Crewe YMCA, is to read a five-minute speech from a soapbox-style stand at the conference as part of the Sky TV sponsored Access All Areas project.

The project is being organised by the YMCA and Charter 88 and it is aimed at raising awareness amongst the politicians about the need to include young people in the political process.

Paul, aged 29, will be talking to a crowd of onlookers at the conference and it is hoped this will include several prominent MPs.

Paul, who has been in Crewe for two years, has spent the last week or so working on his speech, which is to cover the subject of increasing voter apathy in the country.

"In my opinion this is one of the most critical issues facing modern democracy, the declining voter turnout," Paul explained.

"I will put forward one or two ideas and I will be trying to bring it to people's attention and get a debate going," he continued.

The YMCA is to have representatives at the other party conferences and Chris Roles, from YMCA England said: "Despite having clear opinions and being active on a range of issues, the poor turnout in the last election, where only 40 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted, indicates there is a clear need to increase young people's involvement with politics."

Paul added: "This subject is something I have had in the back of my mind for a while and I will hopefully get some feedback on the day.

"The turnout has been going down for the last five to ten years."

Paul is hoping to enrol with Salford University on a Music Production course and eventually hopes to get into the music industry.

He has been using Crewe YMCA's facilities to learn some of the skills he needs and says the help of the YMCA has been invaluable.