Labour makes a grab for youth vote with online consultation

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/feb/06/labour-youth-vote-young-politics-online-consultation

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Labour has launched an online youth consultation after the party said that almost a million voters had dropped off the electoral roll in the past 12 months – many of whom are young.

Ivan Lewis, the senior Labour MP leading the young voters’ campaign, said that a manifesto for young Britain would be published next month after the youth consultation ended.

He said that about 1,500 people had filled in the consultation so far.

The “Shape your Future” project aims to find out what young people and students would like to see from a Labour government, with fewer than 100 days to go until the general election.

Questions in the four-minute survey include, “Do you think politicians listen to young people?”, and “Do you think politics can change your life?”

The online survey also asks for one idea that would shape young people’s lives for the better.

Lewis said: “The other element of the campaign is that Ed Miliband has committed – once Labour is in government – to being held to account by young people for the promises that we make, that will be announced alongside the young people’s manifesto.

“In government we would ensure young people on a regular basis would be able to have a voice in terms of holding us to our promises.”

He added: “Because obviously there’s a great deal of scepticism in the aftermath of what happened to Nick Clegg, Lib Dems and tuition fees.”

In a speech earlier this month, Miliband told an audience in Sheffield that the consultation “will give young people up and down the country the opportunity to talk to us about Labour’s young Britain manifesto”.

Sadiq Khan, the shadow London minister, who is also helping to canvass young voters, said: “If you look at any empirical analysis of this government’s policies you can see they are chasing the silver vote.

“Young people have been hammered by tuition fees, the housing crisis, high youth unemployment and falling real wages.” Khan added, “That’s why we’re reaching out across the country to hear about the problems they face in their lives.”

With the youth consultation coming to an end, the Guardian spoke to young voters, who gave their views on issues that they feel most affect them.

Junaed Khan, 21, student in London

Traditionally, political parties have seen young people as canvassing fodder or a photo opportunity.

So the youth manifesto should have been done long ago. Thank God it’s being done now. It’s too early to say what the results will be, but just the fact that the Labour party are now consulting young people sets the precedent from all the other parties. It’s something that they wouldn’t have conceived before now.

My main issue, as someone who is doing a Master’s and approaching employment, is could I afford an affordable house before I’m too old, or will I have a secure income? Or secure employment? And will I be able to access health services? Will there be worse?

Kenny Imafidon, 21, commentator on social and political issues from Peckham, London

For me, the consultation is a great initiative. It’s basically a call for all parties to enhance engagement with young voters.

In terms of change, the younger generation need young people in the policy and decision-making process, especially on the issues that affect them and be directly consulted.

For young people to understand politics, politics needs to understand young people.

Right now people feel disillusioned but people don’t understand the power they have – they don’t understand they can email MPs and lobby them. They don’t understand you can write petitions, can demonstrate. There’s so many ways to influence policies and politicians.

We need to teach people and show them the power they got.

Helen Whitehouse, 19, politics blogger from Barnsley

Reaching out and consulting is a good step, but it needs to be something that continues, rather than just be a campaign thing.

So it needs to be changed from the bottom to the top. Young people need political education in school so they can cut through the political jargon that politicians speak.

Politics is for people, not just for Oxbridge graduates. It needs to be spread out.

But on the other hand, there are people such as Russell Brand who tell people not to vote and so further disenfranchise already disenfranchised people. That’s not something he should really want to do.

Poppy Noor, 24, civil servant from Hackney, London

I think it’s cool that a party is actually asking for the views of young people, and I think that the pledge about votes at 16 shows that they actually care about our vote.

But there is no homogenous female, young, or ethnic minority policy. We are not a homogenous group. So there’s no silver bullet solution that is going to help you get them.

The point is young people do know stuff. What they know is that they get ignored. Politics doesn’t represent them in any way, that’s why they don’t vote. It’s not becasue they’re not educated enough about it. They’re probably a lot more educated then a lot of MPs who haven’t had to look for a job for a few years.

But the interesting thing here is that young people are political. They do care, they do want to change but don’t think politics is the way to do it and I think that’s something that is a real waste. It’s just a real shame.

Keir Mather, 16, student from Hull

The problem young people are facing is they want to be able to speak about issues that are important for them, like education or housing.

But they aren’t taught about things like that in school and aren’t given that adequate knowledge in order to form an opinion, which they could talk to an adult about, and hold their own in a conversation.

Young people need to realise their voice is as important as the voice of politicians.

If we get together as a collective we can speak about the things that matter to us, then we can make a positive impact and we can further things for ourselves – because it is about furthering our own interests.

Jennifer Davis, 24, law student from Greenwich, London

To be honest, my friends do not like politics. They’re just over it. They don’t understand why I like politics.

But I studied it at college, and I liked it, so I wanted to get involved. I joined the Labour party two years ago but I didn’t get active until last year. I went to one meeting and I thought, this is boring.

In my area, we’ve got new housing developments and all the houses there are really really expensive. I know that I live in the royal borough of Greenwich, but a lot of working-class people live there. And they are building all these fancy houses making all the rich people live there.

It’s like you’re throwing it in our face. It looks like this side is the poor side, and this side is the rich side and I just feel think, no.

Alvin Carpio, 27, campaigns officer for the Young Fabians

I’m worried about my little cousin Jasmine who’s 14 and in east London. There are almost a million young people unemployed, not in education or training. What are politicians and people of power going to do to give those young people opportunities so, that they actually have a stake in society?

But for me the biggest concerns are the young people furthest away in the margins, the excluded young people – people who are in prison, young people who have offending records people who from a very early age are immediately struck off from any future at all – and I think we have to think very carefully how we integrate those most marginalised young people.

So that they’re not just left alone, and so they have another chance. That for me is the biggest concern.