At Hull City Council’s last full council meeting, the Lord Mayor made a preventative community plea after a member of the city’s Youth Parliament was spat on because of the colour of their skin
Lord Mayor of Hull and Admiral of the Humber, Cllr Maria Coward, in mayoral garb(Image: Hull City Council)
The Lord Mayor of Hull has shared why she made a plea to fellow councillors last month after hearing that a member of the city’s Youth Parliament had been racially abused. Cllr Maria Coward (Boothferry Ward) became the new Lord Mayor in May.
At her third full council meeting chairing it as the Lord Mayor, Cllr Coward shared concern about a core message from a recent meeting with Hull’s Youth Parliament “that abuse and discrimination to our young people is on the rise”.
“I found that really disturbing,” she said, before highlighting one specific incident raised. “One of the young girls said she was spat on because of the colour of her skin and told to go back to her own country. She’s a British citizen.”
She stated she addressed her fellow councillors in their capacity as corporate parents and the need to be looking out for young people and children. Speaking to Hull Live, the Lord Mayor has emphasised the plea was a preventative one and shared more detail about what she discussed with Hull Youth Parliament members.
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‘We need to be working with our communities’
“What I got back from Youth Parliament is they don’t feel safe,” the Lord Mayor told fellow councillors. “Their parents are telling them just to put their heads down while they walk through the street so that people don’t attack them. This is wrong.
“We need to be working with our communities, working more closely with our police to prevent this continuing to happen.” Her speech was greeted with applause in the Hull Guildhall council chamber.
“All the councillors are brilliant,” said Cllr Coward, who praised the response received to her full council plea. “We all have a responsibility to make sure our young people are safe,” she said of why she raised what she had been told at full council. “They asked what can we do,” she said of reaction from fellow councillors since.
‘For me, to hear that, it broke my heart’
The Lord Mayor spoke to eight members of Hull’s Youth Parliament along with a council representative in early July. “It’s really unusual how we got into this,” she said of the topic of abuse and discrimination.
She explained “the conversation kept rolling” and covered the state of national politics and national Government and she asked how it was affecting them. “For me, to hear that, it broke my heart,” she said of the abuse concern and spitting incident raised, later adding, “It absolutely gutted me.”
Cllr Coward said the Youth Parliament members at the meeting blamed the state of national politics for causing the divide.
‘Making more aware’
The Lord Mayor praised the Youth Parliament members as “amazing young people”. She discussed with them her role, not just as a Mayor, but as a ward councillor.
The young people also spoke about the parks and places where they can hang out, and what it was like being teenagers. The Lord Mayor shared with the Youth Parliament her role in running the Friends of the Peter Pan Park, which concerns Costello Playing Fields. It is her 10th year of running it and a voluntary café shop in the park.
On Bank Holiday Monday, August 31, a special event is being held at the park, called Costello Car Show. This will involve a large car show, live music, and local business stalls.
Cllr Coward mentioned she is not the only local politician engaging with Hull Youth Parliament. Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire Luke Campbell (Reform UK) will meet them in September.
The Lord Mayor said her speaking out about the abuse and discrimination concerns raised by the Youth Parliament was a preventative measure to make sure it does not happen again. “To me it was making more aware of incidents that have happened.” She stressed what she was told concerned primarily one incident.
She emphasised Hull’s community spirit and councillors working with the community. “The other week, I went to Peel Street which is a mosque. What they’re doing in there is fabulous.
“There’s a misconception about these communities and how they are,” she added. She felt there was a need to promote what communities are doing “to get rid of that negativity and divide” caused at national level.
“We thought that these types of attacks stopped a long time ago. It doesn’t matter the colour of your skin, what religion you are, we are all human beings. We should treat each other equally.”
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