Budding Bushbury politician finds his voice on national stage
An autistic teenager with political ambitions has had his voice heard on the national stage with appearances in Parliament and on Question Time.
Kashmire Hawker, aged 18, hopes his experiences help him launch a career in politics in the future.
The Bushbury teenager first appeared on the primetime BBC One show hosted by David Dimbleby on December 3.
He also got involved in discussions about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his party colleague Hilary Benn, who disagreed about the prospect of the UK bombing Syria in the wake of the Paris terrorist atrocities.
And then the following day he delivered a speech on diversity in parliament at a debate at the Chamber Event in Westminster.
On his experiences, he said: "I was lucky enough to be in the audience for Question Time, which was held in Birmingham.
"I got called by Mr Dimbleby to speak which was nerve-wracking but the rest of the audience applauded.
"Then I was lucky enough to take part in the Chamber Event 2015, and was called to speak by Baroness De Souza,
"The subject was how do we address diversity in parliament.
"I spoke in favour of improving the current policies, and based my speech around the stopping parliament from being 'Male, Pale and Stale', as I feel it is now.
"It got a good reception and after those who got to speak had their say, it was put to a vote.
"The majority voted in favour of improving the current policies so it felt good be be on the winning side.
"Both were amazing experiences for me. To be able to have my voice heard on a big stage was fantastic, and I would encourage others who are my age to look to do so as well."
The youngster, who has had a number of roles in youth politics in Wolverhampton and the UK including being a Quality of Life facilitator with Black Country disability rights charity Changing Our Lives, Member of Youth Parliament and Deputy Member of Youth Parliament, and chair of Wolverhampton City Youth Council, hopes his activity will be the springboard to a career in mainstream national politics.
He said: "I hope to enter a political career. I'm at sixth form at the moment and have applied to five universities for different politics-related courses.
"I'd like to get in at a local level first before hopefully progressing into mainstream politics and into Westminster."
In July, Kashmire came runner up at this year's Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year award.
