YOUNG people from Islington turned out in force last night (February 11) to quiz London's mayoral candidates about youth crime and knife culture.<br><br>An audience of more than 200 people, many of them teenagers, came to St Mary's Church in Upper Street for a special meeting of Islington's Commission on Young People and Safety in Islington.<br><br>Mayoral hopefuls Boris Johnson (Conservative), Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat), and Sian Berry (Green Party) were joined by Labour politician and leader of the Metropolitan Police Authority Len Duvall after London mayor Ken Livingstone was unable to attend.<br><br>All four politicians gave a short speech on youth crime, violence and how they would tackle the problem.<br><br>Questions were then taken from the floor and young people from schools and youth clubs took the chance to ask some tough questions.<br><br>Topics varied from knife-checks in schools to the question of whether politicians are out of touch with young people.<br><br>Cllr Greg Foxsmith, Chairman of the Commission, said: "It was good to see such senior politicians giving up their evening to face the voters of the future.<br><br>"But even better was seeing so many young people with difficult questions - and answers - about youth and knife crime, and how it can be stopped.<br><br>"There were a huge number of comments and questions from the young people and all will be fed into the Commission's work."<br><br>After the mayoral question-and-answer session the Commission heard evidence from young people who use youth projects and clubs from across the borough.<br><br>Islington Council set up the independent Commission after the tragic death of teenager Martin Dinnegan, who was stabbed and killed in June last year.<br><br>It aims to come up with ways of tackling youth violence and stopping gang culture, and has heard evidence from a huge range of different sources, from youth workers, headteachers, parents and young people themselves.<br><br>Monday's meeting was its last to consider evidence. The Commission will now meet on Monday, February 18 to discuss its recommendations before its final report on March 10.<br><br><br>
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009