Walsall rap artist, 16, to stand for National Youth Parliament

Joscel Manirambona, aged 16, who is taking his GCSEs at St Thomas More Catholic School in Darlaston, says his main aim is to stamp out bullying.

He will be under the scrutiny of 28,000 secondary school pupils across the 18 schools in the borough, as they have the opportunity to vote for two full representatives and two deputies.

At the last election there was a 48 per cent turnout with 13,458 young people voting.

Joscel said: "At St Thomas More we have a caring and supportive community, and over the past three years we have seen a dramatic reduction in bullying.

"I have been brought up to believe you can change things for the better and I want to do that whether through my music, my charity work or now my politics."

The teenager, who wants to become a human rights barrister, has made a name for himself in local music circles.

He has also set up his own charity to help fund a school in his grandmother's home in Murago in Burundi and to forge links between the Murago school and St Thomas More Catholic School.

Peter Mayland, headteacher at St Thomas More Catholic School, said: "The Youth Parliament is an increasingly influential lobbying group at a local, regional and national level and I am sure if Joscel is elected he will make his voice heard.

"He is a young man with a mission."