Join us for an evening in conversation with former political advisor Alastair Campbell speaking to our young people on what they want to see from our democracy to build trust, confidence and skills to participate in it.

Bringing together students, policy makers and business leaders, the event will be a discussion focused on young people’s views on the current state of our democracy, and how our institutions can respond to create active citizens in the face of disenchantment, distrust and misinformation.

Be sure to join us to hear from leading figures and young people on the urgency and opportunity to rethink how we create a strong democracy and communities from the ground up and ahead of the May 2026 elections.

• Date: 19th November 2025
• Time: 18:00 – 20:30
• Location: The IDRC, St. Paul’s, London, EC4M 7BQ

The Evening

• A panel discussion chaired by Alastair Campbell in conversation with local sixth-form students and My Life My Say ambassadors
• The official launch of Young Citizens’ national learning campaign, The Big Democracy Lesson
• The chance to engage with young people, educators, policy makers, civil servants and corporate leaders at our drinks reception

To Attend

RSVP by 3rd November 2025 to events@youngcitizens.org.

More about The Big Democracy Lesson

As the UK’s leading citizenship charity working with state schools to deliver skills-building democratic education, we know right now both teachers and young people are eager to have more democracy education in the classroom. The event marks the launch of Young Citizens’ new annual campaign, The Big Democracy Lesson: a national learning campaign designed to build children and young people’s civic skills and confidence so they are ready to take part in democracy – both at the ballot box and beyond.

Building on the success of The Big Legal Lesson, which reaches thousands of learners each spring, this initiative will bring together sector leaders and institutions to ensure every young person learns how to get informed and get involved with their democracy this year.

Launching on the 19th November 2025, the campaign will provide state school teachers with a fresh, special suite of easy-to-use and flexible lessons, assemblies and activities that build skills around the fundamentals of our democracy. We want to ensure that educators have the materials they need to empower young people before they go to the polls this coming May.

In early 2026, we are excited to launch our extension campaign with primary schools.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to RX and Fieldfisher for supporting this event and campaign, and the youth partners at My Life My Say.

About Us

Young Citizens was founded in 1989 by Lord Phillips OBE and has since become one of the largest citizenship and democracy education charities in the UK. Working to ensure all children and young people learn about their citizenship whilst at school, we deliver interactive citizenship experiences and classroom resources that bring citizenship to life.

Established by democracy education experts, we helped pave the way for the curriculum and now specialise in civic literacy, linking political, media, economic and legal education to real-world contexts for 5-18 year olds through interactive learning programmes.

From our Mock Trial Competition programme to citizenship workshops engaging expert employee volunteers and young people on themes like social media and sustainability, we reach over 200,000 young people a year and leave a lasting mark on democratic competencies and confidence.

Find out more about our programmes and the basics of citizenship education.