Hayleigh Fallon was recently elected as a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, serving the Clydebank and Milngavie regions as a MSYP.

The 16 year old, who attends St Peter the Apostle High, has spoke of her joy at being elected and revealed she also has aspirations to progress to being an MSP in future.

Hayleigh told the Post she is involved in youth groups at The Hub in Clydebank and has been working on a drug and alcohol awareness drive.

The Hardgate teenager also plans to galvanise her peers to organise more activities for older pupils in Clydebank to do in their spare time.

She said: “I wanted to run for MSYP so that I could provide a voice for young people, to make others more aware of our thoughts and feelings.

“My plans are now to enforce new extra activities in school for older ones — there’s just not enough for people to do after school right now. I have ideas and a lot of people are interested, such as extending the trampoline club to older pupils.

“I’m looking at starting up a club for helping people make CVs so younger people have greater opportunities of getting into work. Right now, older students at the school are struggling. It’s a problem, especially in Clydebank, because most of the shops are getting shut down such as Bank in the shopping centre.” Hayleigh wants to go to university but is unsure what to study. She is certain, however that while at university she would like to build her political profile.

The 16 year old is a keen follower of current affairs and is active on social media.

She said: “When it comes to a political party, I am neutral right now — but I’m following them all on Twitter and seeing what their views are, and also pointing out what some parties are doing, and what some parties aren’t — so I can help make teens aware of what’s going on.” Hayleigh is unsure where she falls within the political spectrum, but equality is at the heart of her manifesto.

She said: “In the future, I would love to get into the Scottish Parliament. I want everyone to have a fair and equal chance to do what they want to do.

“I think anyone can do what they want. If someone puts their mind to it they can achieve the world.

Hayleigh told how she was a supporter of Scottish Independence and was glad of Clydebank’s majority yes vote.

She added: “For Scotland, Clydebank got a really good turn out — it was spectacular for a town that doesn’t usually have a good show.”