An Appeal to the Prime Minister, by Shirley Blackwood

Our incredible volunteer and community member, Shirley, wrote a powerful letter to the PM, highlighting her concerns for the future of our young people.

24 April 2025

Prime Minister’s Office

The Rt. Hon Sir Keir Starmer

10 Downing Street

London

SW1A 2AA

Dear Prime minister,

Young people – No help – No hope – No future

My name is Shirley Blackwood (Mrs) and I am writing to you with great concerns regarding our young people.  As you are aware, the mental health problem is increasing in this country and we must ask ourselves why.  Why now and what can we do  to prevent this from further increase?

There are various factors which I believe have contributed to this problem.

·       Lack of support, not having access to anywhere they are able to unload their concerns.  For example the lack of youth clubs and  mentors is another major contributor.

·       Difficulty in getting employment even though many have attended college or graduated from university.

Some have turned to crime and have ended up in prison but we know that prison is not the answer as some leave only to return.

We need our country to feed positivity into our young people. I am not saying that they are perfect but we must do our best to help them to become the better part of themselves.

We are responsible as a nation to ensure that our young people are catered for.  If we fail them we fail ourselves.

We must remember that they are the future for this country so it is  extremely important that we take this situation seriously as failure to rectify this will leave them feeling hopeless.

Thank you for your assistance in advance.

Yours sincerely

Mrs. S Blackwood