A 12-year-old from Prime Minister David Cameron's constituency has spoken of his concerns over the threatened closure of youth services in his area as he joined a huge rally against proposed cuts.
Nicky Wishart was among around 1,000 people at the rally in Solihull, staged by Unite to launch a campaign against "catastrophic" cuts to youth services.
Unite warned that one in four youth services such as volunteering projects and youth clubs in England faced spending cuts of up to 30%.
Young people arrived from across the country for the rally, congregating at the Renewal Conference Centre in Solihull.
Grasping banners and wearing t-shirts with slogans protesting against youth service cuts, they took part in protest poster-making workshops, protest song workshops, and listened to speeches from a range of speakers.
Speaking ahead of the rally, Nicky Wishart from Eynsham in Mr Cameron's Witney constituency, said: "I use the Eynsham youth club three times a week.
"That's going to be closed if the cuts go ahead as planned. I use it three times a week, which is a lot in a five-day working week. If it's closed I won't do anything - sit indoors, or hang around on the streets.
"I also use the local library which is also threatened with closure. I've got two younger brothers, one was born last Friday and one who is three, and both of them are never going to have a chance to know what a youth club is like."
Nicky, who was due to give a speech to the gathered crowd, said he was not sure what the effect of the rally would be.
But he said they would continue to campaign to get the message across, along with others across the country - his 14-year-old sister Beth was speaking at a similar rally in Oxford.
