A YOUNG politician hopes to get youth issues on the agenda after being elected to represent his county.

Thomas Hardye School student Lloyd Hatton is looking forward to his role as a Member of the Youth Parliament (MYP) for 2013 after attracting the most votes out of any candidate at recent elections.

The 17-year-old from Weymouth chalked up nearly 8,000 votes as more than 43,200 schoolchildren went to the polls to elect three MYPs and three deputies.

Lloyd, who is in Year 12 at the Dorchester school, was elected as a deputy in 2012 and enjoyed the experience so much he wanted to become a full MYP this year.

The former All Saints School pupil said: “I saw what a positive difference I could make a full member of the Youth Parliament so wanted to stand again this year.”

Lloyd said he has been ‘hooked’ on politics since the 2010 General Election sparked his interest and went on to study the subject at AS level.

He said he may consider a career as a politician later in life but would like to try a job in the ‘real world first’.

Lloyd, who counts Barack Obama among the politicians he admires internationally, said he believed the reason his bid to become an MYP was successful was because he offered something different.

He said: “I think the pledges I made in our manifesto were different and probably even unique compared to other candidates this year and in previous years.

“We especially found that our emphasis on equality was popular amongst young voters.”

Asked what he hoped to achieve in his year in the role, Lloyd replied: “To campaign on the issues I stood for and people voted for and to make sure the Government of the day know about issues that concern young people.”

Lloyd will represent Dorset in the Youth Parliament in 2013 alongside Moya Dunne from Ferndown Upper School and James Jones from Ferndown Middle School.

Their deputies are James Mor-phakis from St Osmund’s Middle School in Dorchester, Natasha Glendening from Gryphon School, Sherborne’ and Eve Laird of the QE School in Wimborne.