The upcoming General Election is going to be one of the tightest in decades. The surge in support for the SNP and the Greens, as well as for UKIP on the right, have squeezed the traditional centrist parties, with Labour in particular being punished for abandoning their working class base under Blair. As well as being close, the election is of great importance. The ownership of public services, like the NHS and universities, could be decided, along with workplace rights and young people’s benefits. Given that politics for the next generation could be shaped on May 7th, why are young people not going to be voting in droves?
Young people are always far less likely to vote than those older than them. The Trade Union Congress has found that in the 2010 election, just 33 per cent of 18-34 year olds voted, compared to 64 per cent of those aged 35 years and older. In other words, there are four million missing young voters, an average of 11,000 per constituency, more than the average majority. Young people could decide the next election, but they probably won’t.
While the Greens are ‘surging’, as everyone now likes to point out, they will struggle to win more than a single seat, even if they are the second most popular party among young people. They’ve attracted young voters with their brand of anti-austerity politics and antifees rhetoric, as well as just looking like the authentic alternative to consensus politics.
Meanwhile, Labour’s youth wing is flagging, mostly dragged along by those whose political vision doesn’t extend beyond the next door they have to knock on, and can’t understand why most young people have been turned off by the New Labour years, which they (understandably) associate with tuition fees, ASBOs, and the Iraq war.
Most attempts to counter this ‘apathy’ (an incredibly condescending word when used about young voters) focus on non-political solutions and buzzwords like ‘engagement’ and ‘the student voice’. Much of the debate, especially in the Labour Party, to which I belong, has almost forgotten that you have to offer something to people in order to get their votes. The ‘not Tories’ party isn’t much of a ticket on its own.
Labour’s higher education spokesperson Liam Byrne was caught this week admitting he’d like to see free education. If Labour actually came out with policies like that, young people might feel they had something worth voting for.
