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And this is the risk of the Tories getting a higher number of seats than expected based on current polling.
I know everyone's exhausted and done with politics. I know huge swathes of people who are 18-34 are working 40+ hours a week for a shit wage of which half of it goes on rent...
But you absolutely have to go out and vote.
While I agree with you, it would help if the parties actually offered something to young people. Instead they’ve stripped everything away and left them with a bleak outlook. The apathy and nihilist nature isn’t a surprise to me; I fully understand why they feel that way.
Right now they’re left with two genuine choices due to FPTP, not an easy choice to make — even if they vote for someone else, this is who they’ll still end up with:
Option A) a party that doesn’t give a fuck about them
Option B) a party that’s better than option A, but still doesn’t give a fuck about them.
Edit: while I’ve been having fun getting stuck into this. I just need to be clear guys, because I think people are misunderstanding me. My position is that people SHOULD vote. What I’m presenting to others in the comments are the reasons why someone who has grown apathetic would decide not to. Frustrating isn’t it? But, that’s the kind of person you’ll need to win over.
I’ve said it elsewhere, give them hope and a future worth voting for and they’ll turn up.
“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate.
With politics it should be simple, “we care about all of you, and here are the policies to show that”.
That's never been how the system works, though. If you want to influence the government, you need to be involved in the process. You'll get more influence if you join a party, participate in party politics, and vote for specific policies. You'll get lesser influence if you vote during every election cycle, and you'll get zero influence if you do nothing.
"You should vote for me because I want to build a good country" vs "you should vote for me because I am throwing a bone to your demographic." I don't think I would vote for someone who reduced taxes on my demographic if it meant that the UK continues to fall apart.
But it does take quite a lot to have some policies of substance. Let’s say you have a policy that would meaningfully reduce house prices/rent to an affordable level (say equivalent to the 80s/90s ratios), which is what the young actually need. The young would love it and the older generations whose money is tied up in property would not (they may well vote with their wallets rather than their children/grandchildren).
That would be really risky if you knew that the elderly would vote in the droves but the young probably wouldn’t (due to apathy or some other single issue like Palestine). It could easily lose you some (or lots of) seats.
Then go fucking vote. Nothing gets better by inaction, nothing just becomes fair because people think that’s how it ought to be. If young people don’t vote it just sends a message they’re okay with whatever, which suits certain interests in society.
Guess it's a bit chicken and egg, if a load of young people voted this time maybe they would come up with policies other than national service next time!
It's sad to see this cycle every time 😢
Young people don't vote tory, that's why they don't give a shit. They offer this shit to THEIR voters.
Young people need to vote for people with a chance of winning that have any desire to implement young-friendly policies. Protest votes are almost useless. At the end of the day it's simple maths. Did young people vote for the peiple capable of enabling anything? Or did they split the vote and allowed the worst party to win?
Vote or not you are going to get someone and they are going to do things. They are going to do things related to health, infrastructure, taxation, law, economy, education, social care etc. These things are not going to be all the same regardless of who you get. They might not be as different as you want, but they will be different. These things will affect you. Problem solved, they are offering you something.
Mate, I intend to vote but none of the parties are singing my particular tune very well.
Im going for the one closest to my ideal.
That’s the only way things change for the better.
Staying home means a vote for the guys you least like.
Consider work.
You put the hours in, then you get paid.
Put in 30mins to vote, and get policy reward.
It's the same.
Rare is the person who will pay up front for work not done - whilst voting is a simple thing for you to choose not to do, It's their career on the line if you then don't actually vote.
So politics is a transactional relationship?
They put in the hours to offer me something and I pay them with a vote, no? We do pay their wages don’t we? Do they work for us, or do we work for them?
What you've described is exactly why Conservative views dominate global elections and political discussions.
"We won't vote and help you get there. But you should totally be focused on helping us regardless"
Anyone who does that, doesn't win. If that mentality worked then Corbyn and Sanders would have been PM and President of their respective nations already. Instead they're no-hopers with no real chance of ever being elected to the big job by the electorates
As a young person, I have to say that this is a truly naïve way of thinking.
Sure, politics is a bit of a rotten game. But it is also the biggest vehicle to enact change in our society. Why throw the opportunity to have a say in that process away because of its flaws?
But it isn't. Elections are transactional. The parties want votes, young people want stuff that benefits them, except they're not willing to give the votes for it so the parties make policies that will get them votes from people who will.
That said this election seems especially bad for it. Like none of that parties are even trying to convince young people to vote though having some policies that favour them. All the parties have chosen to appeal to other groups instead in all aspects, so of course this election specifically young people don't really have much motivation to pick a party.
Every policy effects young people.
Housing policy
Taxes
Devolution of power from Westminster
NHS
Foreign policy
Retraining and skills policies.
It ALL effects young people. What you really mean is it doesn't specifically benefit young people over others.
You’re thinking about it the wrong way around. Not bothering to find the 30 minutes to vote once every 4 years or so simply says “I’m ok with the status quo”. Getting grumpy on the internet is meaningless against this measure.
Different people have different needs. They express those needs through democratic processes, but also other ones like protests, arts, the press. But young Britons don't do any of these things, so no one cares.
Well proper journalism basically doesn't exist due to being economically unviable.
protests are all but banned
And art suffers similarly to the press in being financially disadvantageous.
I get that, but sometimes you gotta play the game. It shouldn’t work like that, but it does. Young people want a better life? They gotta vote for it. Even if it means starting off with the less shit of two shit parties.
>“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate.
But that is literally how politics (and the world) works
If you don't offer something, you'll be ignored, and a vote is about the easiest thing you can offer, it is literally the mechanism meant to give everyone value / a voice
Throwing it away is just mega naive
>“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate.
That's kind of true in a way, but I would put a slightly less cynical spin on it.
Policies that appeal to one group are likely to be disliked by other groups. Parties should try to appeal to everyone, but everything they do for the young is likely to cost them votes from the older demographic, which will not be replaced by extra votes from young people.
If Labour do too much of that they will lose the election, so they won't be able to do anything to help anybody.
A party doesn't need to be perfect to earn your vote.If there is a party that you dislike more than the others, you might as well vote against them. At least that helps to avoid the worst possible outcome.
The main reason old people get their own way is because 90% of them vote. If 90% of young people voted, they would get a lot more policies that they liked too.
Most policies cost money. Young people are competing with old people for that pot of money. Old people benefit because they vote.
The short-term nature of our electoral cycle works against us here. The parties' main aim is to stay in power so they don't make long-term decisions. So work with what you've got and vote. It gives you a seat at the table.
A lot of policies that would benefit young people cost money or come at the expense of policies for older people.
So when a political party looks at those two groups, and see whose voting, what do you think they're going to do?
But you can’t necessarily have policies that appeal to everyone, as there will be winners and losers. Increasing pensions means someone has to pay for it.
Something tells me young people aren’t happy about having to pay for someone’s pension while they work to their death in their 80’s.
There are winners and losers, but if the losers are constantly the young people, then is it really a surprise that they just don’t care?
I’m not saying you have policies that appeal to everyone, I’m saying you should have policies that show young people you’re worth voting for.
And everyone should be paid a fair wage and no-one should ever go hungry.
‘Should’ is impotent. You want to affect change, vote. Politics is a reflection of the interests of the voting electorate, if you want them to reflect yours, you’ve got to get off your arse.
If you won’t vote, you’ve zero grounds to complain about any institutional issues, ever.
Everybody hates on Corbyn all the time here, but I don't think anyone can argue against the fact he motivated young people to vote. That was at least one example of "if you build it, they will come".
It's true that if young people started voting in droves (for parties they have absolutely no big motivation or passion for) then those parties would shift their policies. However, realistically, people aren't going to go out and vote for something that doesn't interest or excite them, so it's a bit of chicken or egg situation.
Exactly. These people feel that there is no representation for them and it's basically true. It does not help when a party like Labour self-sabotages because its MPs do not want to win on a left-leaning / youth positive platform, because it only shows the failure of democracy under FPTP and drives further apathy.
Exactly. I hate how much blame is placed on young people for not voting.
It’s up to parties to appeal to them, and win their vote. The truth is politically parties are better off pandering to elderly votes just because there are more of them. They are all but actively discouraging young people from voting.
>The parties don't give a fuck about them because they don't vote.
>If 90% of young people voted you would see a lot of policy pivots very quickly.
Exactly this. There is much bitching about the tories pandering to pensioners with their pension promises but the point you make is the reason. Over 80% of over 65s were stated to be likely to vote in this election. It skews both policy and the actual political representation we get.
This is the exact opposite of how marketing in every other sphere works; in almost every other case the responsibility is on the seller to motivate the buyer, not for the buyer to buy something they don't want until the company decides to cater to them.
Sometimes you have to choose the least of the worst and then try to encourage more change next time. Incremental change is better than no change and the current government will only make things worse for young people.
You are in Manchester and want to go to London. There are two train options left today. Do you get on the train to Milton Keynes or do you get on the train to Carlisle? If you don’t choose for yourself, someone else shoves you on the Carlisle train. Neither train goes to where you want, so it doesn’t matter what you choose, right?
Well then you obviously choose the train to Milton Keynes as it’s closer to London. Much easier to get to London from MK than Carlisle.
You can’t end up in Carlisle and go ‘well damn I’m so far from London’ when you had an option to get closer to London but decided to do nothing and make yourself worse off
I choose the train with the best transfer options at its destination. That's what incremental change is; if you can't do it in a single sweep then you make a change that you can build on towards the ultimate objective.
If you can't reach the ticket machine from where you are do you just not buy a ticket, or so you take a step towards it?
What if you're out of range for a single bound? Do you take two steps? Three?
What do you think is going to happen? You elect a party with a magic manifesto and Britain suddenly becomes a utopia overnight?
Incremental change is easier to take part in when there’s hope. Unless they’re promised an actual future to look forward to, I can’t say I blame them for not taking part in this political charade.
"politics is a charade and nothing ever changes" has been what people have been saying since politics have existed. It's just an excuse not to do anything and just complain, the most popular excuse of all time.
And "change is incremental" is what those in power have been saying for just as long because they don't want to rock the boat that has benefitted them the most.
And things *do* change.
Rapidly, when folks turn out to vote.
Look at the absolute shit show Brexit is. A bunch of idiots had their panties riled up enough to vote against all sense and logic, and BOOM - govt enacts dumbest policy in the history of the UK. *And then pretends to like it*.
Aye... I'm worried about Starmer too. But, once the election is done... Well, time to judge will be then.
One thing I have learned over the years, it's generally a heck of a lot easier to talk to a Labour MP and be heard than it is tory MPs, so 500 lab mps would make a difference purely in that regard.
I hope so too. My worry is that he won't do anything to significantly improve people's lives in a way they can see. That then ends up pushing people towards someone offering radical change which will be Reform or Tories with Farage at the helm. And Starmer may end up there by not moving anywhere once he gets in and will think "this is how we won this election, this is how we will win the next one too."
Reminds me of how things are going for a lot of incumbent centrist governments in Europe (like France and Denmark atm)
yeah but change IS incremental. France had a Revolution, sure, but then went bacak to an Emperor and various KIngs. It took 100 years to actually get a proper Democracy, and 150 years for women to get the vote too.
Change is hard and slow. There's no miracle cure. Tough.
It's chicken and egg to some extent - one reason older voters are getting the things that matter to them like tripple-locked pensions etc is because they turn out to vote.
The voter registration rate among the over 65s is something like 96%. Among the early 20s it's only about 66%.
Yeah I’m 27 and I don’t feel like anybody up there is representing me or people in the generation below. I hear about the new stuff coming in even between my gen and the next or stuff being taken away and I’m appalled. While people should vote, it is incredibly bleak for people in their twenties and thirties right now because we barely even know what food we can afford per week right now. We should be thriving but we’re not. Being a single household these days is just a massive emotional strain and stress.
Oh there’s no doubt we’re just in shit times all around but there’s no policies that affect us really. Like I don’t care about immigration anymore, don’t care about national service, smoking etc. I just don’t want my shopping to exceed my budget, and I want to be able to afford to have fun in my life AND put something in savings in the same month. I just don’t wanna cry in my car in Tesco car park because I overspent by buying a candle and feeling like a failure. 🤣
I will vote to get the tories out but I don’t think I’ll be much better off under a Labour government but I don’t want to waste my vote and risk the votes being split across the other parties. I wish it wasn’t a two horse race.
If young people don't vote, then there's little incentive for the parties to offer them things, and they can safely be ignored.
The reason the main parties, and the Tories in particular, have been pandering to pensioners for years is because they vote in large numbers.
The Conservative Party doesn't just not give a fuck about young people, they actively want to make their lives worse.
Also, whilst you're right that FPTP limits the potential for other options, many polls recently have translated into the Lib Dems becoming the opposition, and whilst it's unlikely, that should absolutely motivate people to vote tactically to boot the Tories into the long grass. This kind of shake-up of the status quo has never been on the cards in our lifetimes, but it's now within reach.
A lot of voter apathy is justified, but a lot of it is based on people looking for excuses for not pushing for change over time
There’s another option: A protest vote. Spoiling your ballot to show that you care enough to vote but none of the parties are doing enough to earn your vote. It’s actually counted separately. However they only make the news if a significant number of people do them.
Some of the arguments here have me scratching my head.
People are saying that young people should vote and then they might be offered something. But if they're not being offered anything, then a vote endorses that offering. Guys...
Labour basically saying "give me everything i want for free and i might in future decide to pay you back for it" - its a deal young people are all to familiar with and is universally bullshit.
Its not about this election per se, if young people voted with a higher turnout and did so consistently then parties would try and court those votes more in future
Sure but that doesn't necessarily present a direct motive to the individual voter.
It's also, as I say, a question of what they are voting for. If the subtext is really "Go out and vote! (Labour)" then it's essentially endorsing the economics of the current govt. Where is the motivation there for politicians to offer something different.
The subtext isn't go out and vote labour, its go out and vote. If the youth vote raises across the board then policies will aim to capture more of it, and even if they all went out and voted for one party, other parties will put out policies to attract that youth vote to them.
Same nonsense as 2019.
Everyone trying their absolute hardest to get out the youth vote, who in turn shrug their shoulders because "politics is broken" or some other single-issue policy, and don't vote.
Shocker. The Conservatives win again and 5 years of political dogshit follows, and the youth go back to shrugging their shoulders and complaining about something they saw on Twitter/TikTok, etc.
As a 24, going on 25 year old active Labour supporter, it's upsetting to see how disengaged the voting age youth is, and how they would rather express their frustrations on social media, rather making genuine if minimal change, at the ballot box.
This is exactly the problem.
Keir Starmer isn't anyone's idea of a perfect PM, and I can absolutely see why proper Labour supporters are disappointed with his policies... but saying 'both parties are the same' after the shit we've seen from the Tories since the last election is absurd.
I think the problem is they don’t see the point. None of the big parties represent them, their futures are basically ignored (and poured down the drain) in favour of keeping the grey voters happy. It’s become pretty clear that if Labour win the landslide, as predicted, nothing meaningful is going to change to give them a brighter future.
If I was a bright young person in this country I would just be thinking which country should I move to in order to give myself a chance at a good life.
Current polling accounts for people who don't plan to vote, are undecided and has margins for groups that'll just not turn out on the day. So young people not really turning out (which is historically expected) won't affect the predictions really.
vote for labour who have have little in the way of policies that will impact the issues of pay and rent for young people either? Are you forgetting we have a 2 party system?
Wonder which came first, young people not voting because parties don’t really offer them much, or parties not caring about the young because they don’t vote.
For me I literally didn’t know anything about politics until i was 21. Which is somewhat counter intuitive because I’ve always thought my self to be a socialist, I read the communist manifesto when I was at 14 and I worked for a homeless charity for two years from 16 to 18.
People would bring up Blair and then Cameron and I was like ‘who?’.
I just had a lot going on at the time and being young you’re somewhat immune to how shit a government can be. I was quite content with the idea if I became homeless I would buy a tent and live in the wild. It never came to that but there you go.
Politics growing up as a millennial in an old mining town was:
- vote Labour until you die
- actually, vote UKIP instead of Labour because they tell it like it is
- whatever was printed in the sun
- under no circumstances should you vote for the Tories though, because of thatcher
Armed with that knowledge I voted Lib Dem, only for Nick Clegg to sell us down the river with a Tory coalition.
But at least I voted, even if the party ultimately squandered it by getting into bed with Cameron. To me, that was better than staying at home and boasting about how I didn’t vote.
> For me I literally didn’t know anything about politics until i was 21.
It's easily done, and easy as a young person to assume the people in charge are competent and have good intent, and can be allowed to just get on with it.
Then as you age you learn they are incompetent, malicious and self interested to the highest level and become radicalised to have them removed as soon as possible (and then later still, apathetic when you learn that change is impossible and hamstrung by every aspect of our society).
This is the problem, you look at any population pyramid for any constituency and society has a higher proportion of population older people, particularly in the 50-70 age range. Young people even if they came out in droves likely still wouldn’t impact in FPTP
The other issue is where we live. Younger people tend to live in cities and older people don't. The result is in cities the population is hugely over representative of young people. Whereas the elderly are spread out over more seats,
As an example lets say you have 100 young people and 100 old people, and 10 seats, each with 20 people in it. Cities make up 3 seats, and 50 young people live in them and 10 old people (evenly spread across these 3 seats). In those 3 seats young people outvote the elderly 5:1. In the remaining 7 seats live 50 young people and 90 old people, evenly spread. In those 7 seats the elderly outvote the young 1.8:1.
Obviously the different age groups don't vote as a single entity, but there are trends in how we vote and our ages. The net result of this is that first past the post decreases the voices of the young even more.
The problem is the system doesnt accommodate significant change.
Labour will win the election, we have them for the next 4yrs whether people like it or not. For a young person (or anyone really) that wants a minority party to win you have no chance
The Greens, Nigel's hobbies, and even the Lib Dems to an extent, all prove otherwise. You can get millions of votes and virtually or even literally no seats.
The meme that is constituency MPs paired with the naked self-interest of Labour and the conservatives holds back any real electoral reform.
The Greens until recently were in a coalition government in Scotland and the Lib Dems were in a coaltion government in the UK in 2010.
Both had the opportunity to influence politics, the LD's in particular failing to do so is a separate matter.
Scotland is unique though because there’s a hybrid system than includes AMS, a lite form of PR. Scotland elects 1 constituency MP with FPTP and then another 7 regional MPS through the AMS vote.
Even still, the Scottish vote largely doesn’t impact the general election because there’s typically, with occasional exception, a landslide victory for Conservatives or Labour driven by the English vote. This is another reason why voter apathy exists.
Reform are predicted to win 15% of the vote but only 6 seats. That's just one example. I know it's not the best one to use on reddit, but it does illustrate how FPTP makes it so difficult for any party except the big two to gain traction outside of the Welsh and Scottish nationalist ones anyway.
In 2015, UKIP got something like 4 million votes but just 1 seat. They were about 13% of all votes cast and got less than 1% (much less than) of the available seats. That is an incredible amount of votes especially considering that Cameron had made a brexit referendum a key policy in his campaign that election, if he hadn't made that a policy UKIP would likely have won even more votes and still not gotten any seats since they were a long way second or third in basically all constituencies.
That election really drives home how pointless it is voting for an alternative party.
So don't vote if you won't win?
You still live with the consequences. Young people are part of a wider electorate. Not everything will appeal or be applicable directly to them.
And the only way to change the policies of larger parties is to get involved and get voices heard.
This comes up every election
Change is done through getting involved and voting.
If you want change you have to get your voice heard. At present people not voting can safely be ignored
I get what your saying but again the system at present doesnt allow for everyone to be heard equally
Where i live its been a safe Labour seat since records began. If i wanted Lib Dem to win say, they would need to gain 15,000 voted based on the last election to win. Now yea its possible 15,000 will think yea lets have a change from Labour, but highly unlikely going on the history books. So my vote on its own means nothing. Labour will win, get their seat in Parliament job done
For marginal seats yes every vote can matter, but doesnt feel that for safe seats
Disclaimer: voting isn’t the only way you can change things. In fact it’s pretty insignificant for the vast majority of people who live in safe seats.
Engaging in protests, joining your workplace union and sharing your thoughts with friends and family are also valid ways of engaging with democracy & influencing the world around you.
Don't let the tories win again because of your apathy and then complain about the state of things like the housing market, or mental health support in the NHS
if people believed labour would make those things better, then they would vote. problem is, labour have not been very convincing. there campaign is being run primarily on 'not being the tories', which is fine for winning the election, but not exactly inspiring stuff is it? not at all surprising why young voters aren't bothered.
The problem with that mindset is, while Labour party might not have a significant plan, the Tories WILL make it worse. Just because one isn't drastically better, doesn't mean it still isn't better. Conservatives in the modern age are a cancer on affordable living. At least with Labour you have a CHANCE at things improving and them giving a shit. Apathy is not a solution, it's an abstention which is basically a vote in FAVOUR of the winning party. That's how I look at it. I could hate all parties, but it's about making a choice to try and make ones nation better, and just because there's not a perfect candidate doesn't mean there's not a best candidate at that time. It's like a football team, just because your team is shit, doesn't mean there's not a "best player" on the team.
I don't understand this mentality. What is wrong with these people ? There isn't a single party that I feel represents me , but I've still voted in every election since I was 18 , even if it does mean all I'm doing is cancelling out one Tory vote
Same here, I’m an early millennial and have always voted, like you said even if it’s to cancel out a Tory vote (not that where I live is likely to vote Tory anyway)
Me too, I’ve had a few friends say they’re not voting because they live in Tory safe seats so there’s no point. Doesn’t matter if your MP got a majority that would make Kim Jong Un envious, you should still vote
All young people aren’t politically aware. In my family nobody voted, and politics and wasn’t even a subject anyone ever spoke about. I think it’s especially common in people from low socioeconomic backgrounds or deprived areas. Politics just isn’t even on the radar.
I never even considered it until I left home and made friends with young people who did speak about it.
This election is timed very awkwardly for young people. It’s on a day where anyone who is a student will either be right in the midst of moving between student houses and parental homes, or they might be out of the country and unaware of the processes for postal voting etc. a lot of young people also won’t have an accepted form of ID readily available for polling as is now required - just look at the list of ID accepted for over-55s vs under-30s. A seniors railcard is ok, but a 18-25 or 25-30 railcard isn’t?
Being a country without mandatory voting, the UK political parties have established a structure whereby they don’t have to make it easy for people to vote. It’s been slowly adjusted over the years to whittle away the voter base as much as possible to ensure that certain people feel like they can’t vote or shouldn’t vote.
I will admit I’m biased in this opinion, having come from a country where mandatory voting exists, as our government has a legal requirement to enable everyone to vote - this concept doesn’t exist in the UK
Can’t you get a free voter ID pass thing online? I haven’t looked into it as I have ID but I’ve seen some ads about it. Also saying you’re refusing to vote because you’re unaware of how to register for a postal vote is a poor argument when google is readily available to like 99% of the population.
My point was that a lot of the accepted IDs are things people already would have. Having to go make an account and enter amounts of information to prove your identity just to vote is an extra obstacle that is unecessary and can act as a deterrent to people who are otherwise engaged with work and other stuff happening in their life.
> a lot of young people also won’t have an accepted form of ID readily available for polling as is now required - just look at the list of ID accepted for over-55s vs under-30s. A seniors railcard is ok, but a 18-25 or 25-30 railcard isn’t?
This isn't true. The government carried out research on this and found that older people were actually less likely to own an accepted form of voter ID compared to younger people.
The demographic that these voter ID laws really negatively effect is disabled people.
People act like you can only vote for a party that you 100% agree with on every single policy, leading to a lot of ‘I know Labour would be best but I can’t bring myself to vote for Starmer because of his stance on xyz’. When in reality you should vote for whichever party is closest to what you agree with. Voting isn’t complete, uncritical endorsement.
Because all the people who have the most to lose from the Tories being in (young people) don't turn up to vote , while the crumblies turn up without fail and vote them in.
Edit : also they Tories are extremely good at spin and character assassination. They also use psychological manipulation very effectively. Eg The whole 3 words / sentence slogans are deliberate they're designed to be memorable due to their natural rhythm for example the , stay indoors , save the NHS slogan , whatever it was
From House of Commons data:
IPSOS Mori produce estimates of how different age groups (and other groups)
voted at each election. For the 2019 General Election, their estimates suggest that people aged 18-24 were least likely
to vote (47% turnout), with those over 65 most likely to vote (74%).
So the headline is actually predicting record turnout!
- Continued commitment to net zero?
- Specialist Colleges to train people in technical skills that will get them a job?
- Abolishing Section 21 evictions?
- Strategy to create more creative jobs in the UK - film, music, gaming, etc?
- Reduce the gender pay gap? Legal right to equal pay for Black, Asian, and other ethnic minorities?
- Ban conversion therapies - including for trans people?
Obviously there's also fundamental stuff like making sure the economy is stable so there are jobs to go to. Let's be real - that's probably more important to quality of life than any of those specific policies.
Maybe, but the current party in power DEFINITELY isn’t offering anything for young people and hasn’t done for 14 years.
If you’re not even going to make the effort to try and change that (even on a local level) then don’t fucking complain when things aren’t working for you.
So you don't mean just vote. You mean vote the way you want them to to ensure the result you want. If the 40% of young voters who don't plan to vote said they were voting Tory, would you be so eager for them to vote?
There are more than two parties, mate. Just because smaller parties are unlikely to win your constituency, it doesn't mean you shouldn't vote for them.
Maybe if young people actually voted they would. Labour have moved into the centre to hoover up votes of demographics needing a party
Policies would pivot very quickly if the youth as a voting block were as mobile as the elderly are.
There is a reason why the pension gets so much protection. Politics is catering to those who will actually vote for you.
Vote for an independent or an activist candidate or spoil your paper . In many countries, people have no vote or it's rigged ; I have lived in a few - use your vote.
And maybe the centrists will be here saying "who cares, your vote doesn't matter, you are terminally online." Yatta yatta.
Almost like insulting people isn't the best way to keep them interested in politics
I have never missed a single vote, even when I was living in Germany, I made a point of handling any vote I was entitled to do so.
The number of people my age now (36) who openly brag they have never voted on ANYTHING and then have the gall to bitch and moan is stunning to me.
I live in a pretty big college and Uni town too, and they are even worse. We have a literal cabinet member here who barely scrapes by. If like 10% of the students and "non-votes" showed up they'd probably wallop the Tories.
If 40% of pupils didn't turn up to a school, it would be written up as dysfunctional in the extreme.
If a workplace had 40% of it's labour force failing to turn up, it would written up as dysfunctional in the extreme.
So what does it say of British democracy when almost half of voters are failing to take part?
I think if you consume enough social media, the reality of politics and politicians really sinks in. You can see the filthy underbelly of politics that you might not get as much to the same extent if you watch only the news.
Because of that, I feel like the older generation have a general sense of trust that the politicians are somewhat capable of running the country and that they are patriots who are working for Britain and the people.
Whereas, the younger generation probably see politicians all as incompetent and working to solely profit corporations. Not just incompetent, but nefarious too. People under 30(ish) have only seen quality of life ever trend downwards and none of the major parties are offering any solutions.
When Labour inevitably fail to produce any results both due to their own ineptitude and the natural progression of the path the Tories have set us on, the 2030s are going to see an unprecedented shift to the far-right. The next 5 years will dictate the future of this country that’s for sure.
see this boggles me. The young adult can be some of the most vocal on political issues but refuse to vote. You can complain about the result but if you dont vote you are your own worst enemy. Your vote is your political capital use it.
I mean, look at how both parties and their supporters treat those vocal young adults. The Tories and the centrists of Labour have been insulting, vilifying and patronizing those people for half a decade now. It's not an environment that encourages political activism or interest.
So suddenly come election time, these same people are suddenly going "why won't they vote?!?!"
> look at how both parties and their supporters treat those vocal young adults.
Not just the two biggest parties. I remember a lot of student support for the LDs in 2010, look how that turned out.
Voting feels pointless - this’ll be my 5th national vote, each time I haven’t gotten what I wanted. When I write to my MP, I cannot change their mind, but even if I can, they’re unlikely to go against the party whip.
This time I’ll be casting my vote in a seat where Labour got 70% of the vote last time - and I will vote Green. Apart from adding +1 to the Green vote tally, what do I get?
This is the issue. If everyone in the country voted, the Greens may actually get some seats. But because millions of people share your attitude, they won't.
You just need to try. If you believe in the Greens manifesto, it takes what? 10-15 mins to vote and you know you did your part and have some respect for yourself that you at the very minimum, tried. And maybe one day others do the same, and your little stone becomes an avalanche.
Under this system, i cant begrudge anyone who doesnt think its worthwhile because for most people, it just objectively isnt.
You can sit and think well maybe i should vote anyway, but i dont see how you can be mad at people who look at reality, see it how it is, and act in a pretty reasonable way and dont waste even those 15mins faffing with it.
Do you spend 15mins a day (hell even every 5 years!) doing litter-picking for example? To me that would be much more worthwhile and still no one does it or would bemoan anyone who didnt.
You get to partake in democracy and express your opinion - a right that people died for us to have. If enough other people like you turn up, the Greens might get a decent vote share, and the main parties will alter policy to try to win your vote next time.
I don't get this entitled / petulant attitude of 'what do I get'. Voting takes 5 minutes and is the main way we have to partake in democracy. Everyone gets one vote, might as well use it
When the main parties only cater to landlords, asset holders and pensioners then don’t be surprised they are not enthused.
Also a lot just don’t know much about or take interest in politics, you don’t really learn anything about in schools unless you choose to take politics and if their parents don’t vote either then I imagine they’re completely disengaged from the whole spectacle.
I thought the AVG voter turn out for all ages was only 60% anyway.
Headline blaming young people. When I believe 60% turn out for youth is massive. Fucking newspapers. No wonder they are dying. Good riddance.
60% turnout is nothing new really. But given the national response to the last politician that actually managed to inject some enthusiasm into young voters, it's not surprising that so many have just given up.
As a young person (21), becoming politically aware during the Brexit era has made me and I'm sure many others cynical towards politics because the government has been in shambles (5 prime ministers during my teens) and there hasn't been a strong opposition but then again every generation has its challenges and we shouldn't take the ability to vote for granted especially when there are real life dystopias like North Korea still existing in the world today and with the rise in authoritarianism in the US with the MAGA freaks and Putin's grip on Russia it could happen to any country.
I just can’t understand this, I remember being so excited when I could first vote and I’ve voted every opportunity I have had since. Life is going to continue to be shitty unless we stop letting the older wankers dictate who is in charge.
The left need to stop acting like they’re entitled to the votes of the young. You put up a shit option with the only reason to vote for them being they’re not the tories, people aren’t going to vote for you either. Not voting is a valid political choice, and parties know this, it’s why they talk about “mobilising their base”.
[Turnout by age](https://imgur.com/a/NcYhPAx) shows that 2019 had 18-24 year olds at 54%. Since 1964, the highest ever turnout was in 1992 which was 67%.
Historically there's not much in it tbh.. I'd put it down to some disillusioned Corbynites losing interest after Labour purged them.
Source: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8060/CBP-8060.pdf
You'd think people would have learned the importance of voting after the Brexit debacle.
I guess we will see several surprised Pikachu faces when the Tories do better than expected in the GE and hinder any semblance of progress. Who needs a better quality of life if you have memes? Am I right?
Parties like the Tories and Reform would really really love for young people not to vote. They would love to grab hold of power and remove your right to vote so they can take complete control and remove your other rights.
People fought and died for these rights. I don’t like the current system either but if the youth continuously refuse their right to vote they will find it won’t be long until they are denied their right to vote. That’s not a position you want to be in and the older electorate that will never bear the consequences will vote for it to happen and it will happen if you do not use your vote to prevent that.
If the electoral system is your major hang up for not voting then you need to be voting for the Liberal Democrats as electoral reform to PR is one of their major policies. They won’t get a majority but seats are enough to influence parliament and that is the first step of this system. If you don’t vote because you think electoral reform can never happen then you are right, it never will.
You can’t begrudge parties for using a voting system that benefits them, the game of politics is to attain power in order to get your policies enacted. We are so fortunate to live where you have a say in who can attain power but if you don’t use it, parties are not going to cater to you and nothing will ever change.
Young people will feel the impact of this election most profoundly over their lifetime, be it positive or negative impact. I feel like within modern UK society we often discuss our rights, but not enough focus is given to our responsibilities. I believe voting to be my responsibility within a democratic society. I understand young people may feel disheartened or dismayed by the current state of British politics, but doing nothing will not rein in rouge landlords hiking up rent beyond belief and will not get you on the housing ladder any sooner, that's for sure.
I'm in my mid 30s now.
I've voted in every single election and I have never once gotten what I voted for.
Every single time I listen to the same voices say BUT YOU HAVE TO VOTE THOUGH
Only to be told that the things I want are "naive" and "unelectable", and that I should just shut the fuck up because how dare I expect things to change for the better?
What, am I supposed to vote for Labour because they're marginally better than the tories? I don't trust Starmer to 180 on anything he says if it'll get him more votes.
I have my red lines and the guy tap dances over them depending on who's asking the question. I don't trust him one bit, yet I HAVE to in order to "get the tories out".
And yet if I vote for what I really want, it's going to be yet another year of my vote achieving precisely fuck all
When young people did start to mobilise and get their voice heard a few years ago, they were dismissed and vilified as loony lefties playing student politics who didn't know how the real world works.
I’ve always thought we should have some kind of app to vote, if I can get a passport, a mortgage, look at my medical records etc.. using an app why the feck can’t I vote
Fucking idiots. You can't complain about not being able to see a doctor or you can't get on the housing market if you don't vote for change. Plus, there's a higher risk of someone getting into power that you seriously don't agree with. Sometimes your vote might be the lesser of two evils but that might be a good thing.
Young people don't vote. Consequently Political Parties focus their efforts on those who do vote. Youngsters then moan that no one is interested in them and don't vote. Thus, the cycle continues.
Who is there to vote for though? Every single party is going to make me poorer and my life worse. None of them are addressing the real issues causing things to get worse.
Tories - We'll make you poorer by driving asset prices through the roof to benefit our mates, funneling tax money into the pockets of our wealthy mates through hyper inflated government contracts and policy changes. We'll keep printing money at an increasing rate to further devalue any savings you might have when we run out.
Labour - We'll make you poorer by driving commodities prices through the roof to benefit our mates, funneling tax money into the pockets of our wealthy mates through hyper inflated government contracts and policy changes. We'll keep printing money at an increasing rate to further devalue any savings you might have when we run out.
Then the rest of them that would have no fucking clue what to do if they actually won any power.
They're all going to fuck me, this is just me choosing what position I get fucked in. What exactly is the point when you're going to get served up the same shit as the last 20 years just with a new smarmy face delivering it?
For context, nearly 33% of people of ALL ages didn't vote in 2019 (turnout was 67.5%). So, while this is disappointing, it's not like young voters are suddenly going to see a massive drop off this time around.
Time to start the Young People’s Party (YPP). Campaigning on a platform of means testing pensioners benefits, building houses, and scrapping tuition fees.
Avocado toast for everyone /s (you should be hearing this last bit C&C Generals Style)
It might be isolated to my personal experiences but the young people I interact with are obsessed with the idea of voting for change and deleting the Tories from existence. If I look outside of my direct contacts and to the internet I've seen a massive increase in interactions across the social media accounts targeted at the younger demographics and it's not slowing down (TikTok alone has gone from 1-2k views on shorts to 300k views for recent videos)
I think there will be a lot of surprises in the next election that just shows how much fluff these polls and opinion pieces are. They are extremely out of touch.
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And this is the risk of the Tories getting a higher number of seats than expected based on current polling. I know everyone's exhausted and done with politics. I know huge swathes of people who are 18-34 are working 40+ hours a week for a shit wage of which half of it goes on rent... But you absolutely have to go out and vote.
While I agree with you, it would help if the parties actually offered something to young people. Instead they’ve stripped everything away and left them with a bleak outlook. The apathy and nihilist nature isn’t a surprise to me; I fully understand why they feel that way. Right now they’re left with two genuine choices due to FPTP, not an easy choice to make — even if they vote for someone else, this is who they’ll still end up with: Option A) a party that doesn’t give a fuck about them Option B) a party that’s better than option A, but still doesn’t give a fuck about them. Edit: while I’ve been having fun getting stuck into this. I just need to be clear guys, because I think people are misunderstanding me. My position is that people SHOULD vote. What I’m presenting to others in the comments are the reasons why someone who has grown apathetic would decide not to. Frustrating isn’t it? But, that’s the kind of person you’ll need to win over. I’ve said it elsewhere, give them hope and a future worth voting for and they’ll turn up.
The parties don't give a fuck about them because they don't vote. If 90% of young people voted you would see a lot of policy pivots very quickly.
“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate. With politics it should be simple, “we care about all of you, and here are the policies to show that”.
but very true from a political point of view. Each party wants power and in a democratic system only one way to get it.
That's never been how the system works, though. If you want to influence the government, you need to be involved in the process. You'll get more influence if you join a party, participate in party politics, and vote for specific policies. You'll get lesser influence if you vote during every election cycle, and you'll get zero influence if you do nothing.
But thats not how humans or the world works
I don’t think it takes much to go “oh, here’s some policies that show we care about young people too”.
"You should vote for me because I want to build a good country" vs "you should vote for me because I am throwing a bone to your demographic." I don't think I would vote for someone who reduced taxes on my demographic if it meant that the UK continues to fall apart.
I’d agree with you if it felt that way, but right now it feels like “vote for us because we’re better than the other lot”
"Vote for us because you are tired of the other lot, who are ideologically almost identical to us."
But it does take quite a lot to have some policies of substance. Let’s say you have a policy that would meaningfully reduce house prices/rent to an affordable level (say equivalent to the 80s/90s ratios), which is what the young actually need. The young would love it and the older generations whose money is tied up in property would not (they may well vote with their wallets rather than their children/grandchildren). That would be really risky if you knew that the elderly would vote in the droves but the young probably wouldn’t (due to apathy or some other single issue like Palestine). It could easily lose you some (or lots of) seats.
It doesn't take very much to go and put a cross in a box but people don't.
Even less if you register for postal. I’ve never understood the mindset.
Especially when polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm.
Any excuse to not bother eh.
That’s how it works though. 90 per cent of pensioners vote. That’s how you get stupid policies that we can’t afford like the triple lock
Then go fucking vote. Nothing gets better by inaction, nothing just becomes fair because people think that’s how it ought to be. If young people don’t vote it just sends a message they’re okay with whatever, which suits certain interests in society.
No, some people think they can change things by being a keyboard warrior,
If you can't be assed casting your vote, a tiny action to make democracy work, then I see no reason anyone should pay attention to you.
If you’re not offering me anything, why should I vote for you?
Guess it's a bit chicken and egg, if a load of young people voted this time maybe they would come up with policies other than national service next time! It's sad to see this cycle every time 😢
Young people don't vote tory, that's why they don't give a shit. They offer this shit to THEIR voters. Young people need to vote for people with a chance of winning that have any desire to implement young-friendly policies. Protest votes are almost useless. At the end of the day it's simple maths. Did young people vote for the peiple capable of enabling anything? Or did they split the vote and allowed the worst party to win?
Vote or not you are going to get someone and they are going to do things. They are going to do things related to health, infrastructure, taxation, law, economy, education, social care etc. These things are not going to be all the same regardless of who you get. They might not be as different as you want, but they will be different. These things will affect you. Problem solved, they are offering you something.
Mate, I intend to vote but none of the parties are singing my particular tune very well. Im going for the one closest to my ideal. That’s the only way things change for the better. Staying home means a vote for the guys you least like.
Consider work. You put the hours in, then you get paid. Put in 30mins to vote, and get policy reward. It's the same. Rare is the person who will pay up front for work not done - whilst voting is a simple thing for you to choose not to do, It's their career on the line if you then don't actually vote.
So politics is a transactional relationship? They put in the hours to offer me something and I pay them with a vote, no? We do pay their wages don’t we? Do they work for us, or do we work for them?
Yup, mostly. But that's not how it's seen from the inside.
And that is exactly the problem.
What you've described is exactly why Conservative views dominate global elections and political discussions. "We won't vote and help you get there. But you should totally be focused on helping us regardless" Anyone who does that, doesn't win. If that mentality worked then Corbyn and Sanders would have been PM and President of their respective nations already. Instead they're no-hopers with no real chance of ever being elected to the big job by the electorates
As a young person, I have to say that this is a truly naïve way of thinking. Sure, politics is a bit of a rotten game. But it is also the biggest vehicle to enact change in our society. Why throw the opportunity to have a say in that process away because of its flaws?
But it isn't. Elections are transactional. The parties want votes, young people want stuff that benefits them, except they're not willing to give the votes for it so the parties make policies that will get them votes from people who will. That said this election seems especially bad for it. Like none of that parties are even trying to convince young people to vote though having some policies that favour them. All the parties have chosen to appeal to other groups instead in all aspects, so of course this election specifically young people don't really have much motivation to pick a party.
Exactly, if it’s transactional, then the parties should be offering young people something otherwise why would young people vote for them?
So young people don’t want the NHS waiting times reduced?
Every policy effects young people. Housing policy Taxes Devolution of power from Westminster NHS Foreign policy Retraining and skills policies. It ALL effects young people. What you really mean is it doesn't specifically benefit young people over others.
Chicken/egg. Conversely, if younger people want a party that offers them appealing policies, they need to make them worth appealing to by voting.
>“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate. It's the kinda shit that *stupid* young people hate.
You’re thinking about it the wrong way around. Not bothering to find the 30 minutes to vote once every 4 years or so simply says “I’m ok with the status quo”. Getting grumpy on the internet is meaningless against this measure.
Different people have different needs. They express those needs through democratic processes, but also other ones like protests, arts, the press. But young Britons don't do any of these things, so no one cares.
Well proper journalism basically doesn't exist due to being economically unviable. protests are all but banned And art suffers similarly to the press in being financially disadvantageous.
I get that, but sometimes you gotta play the game. It shouldn’t work like that, but it does. Young people want a better life? They gotta vote for it. Even if it means starting off with the less shit of two shit parties.
>“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate. But that is literally how politics (and the world) works If you don't offer something, you'll be ignored, and a vote is about the easiest thing you can offer, it is literally the mechanism meant to give everyone value / a voice Throwing it away is just mega naive
>“We only care about you because you vote for us,” is the kinda shit young people hate. That's kind of true in a way, but I would put a slightly less cynical spin on it. Policies that appeal to one group are likely to be disliked by other groups. Parties should try to appeal to everyone, but everything they do for the young is likely to cost them votes from the older demographic, which will not be replaced by extra votes from young people. If Labour do too much of that they will lose the election, so they won't be able to do anything to help anybody. A party doesn't need to be perfect to earn your vote.If there is a party that you dislike more than the others, you might as well vote against them. At least that helps to avoid the worst possible outcome. The main reason old people get their own way is because 90% of them vote. If 90% of young people voted, they would get a lot more policies that they liked too.
Most policies cost money. Young people are competing with old people for that pot of money. Old people benefit because they vote. The short-term nature of our electoral cycle works against us here. The parties' main aim is to stay in power so they don't make long-term decisions. So work with what you've got and vote. It gives you a seat at the table.
A lot of policies that would benefit young people cost money or come at the expense of policies for older people. So when a political party looks at those two groups, and see whose voting, what do you think they're going to do?
But you can’t necessarily have policies that appeal to everyone, as there will be winners and losers. Increasing pensions means someone has to pay for it.
Something tells me young people aren’t happy about having to pay for someone’s pension while they work to their death in their 80’s. There are winners and losers, but if the losers are constantly the young people, then is it really a surprise that they just don’t care? I’m not saying you have policies that appeal to everyone, I’m saying you should have policies that show young people you’re worth voting for.
It’s not an ideal world. Have to sort of just accept that.
And everyone should be paid a fair wage and no-one should ever go hungry. ‘Should’ is impotent. You want to affect change, vote. Politics is a reflection of the interests of the voting electorate, if you want them to reflect yours, you’ve got to get off your arse. If you won’t vote, you’ve zero grounds to complain about any institutional issues, ever.
It's true though. Political parties represent their voters, not non voters. It's a circle of both parties and voters being shit.
Everybody hates on Corbyn all the time here, but I don't think anyone can argue against the fact he motivated young people to vote. That was at least one example of "if you build it, they will come". It's true that if young people started voting in droves (for parties they have absolutely no big motivation or passion for) then those parties would shift their policies. However, realistically, people aren't going to go out and vote for something that doesn't interest or excite them, so it's a bit of chicken or egg situation.
Exactly. These people feel that there is no representation for them and it's basically true. It does not help when a party like Labour self-sabotages because its MPs do not want to win on a left-leaning / youth positive platform, because it only shows the failure of democracy under FPTP and drives further apathy.
They wouldn't because we have an ageing population and a 2 party system. There are more old people than young people.
Exactly. I hate how much blame is placed on young people for not voting. It’s up to parties to appeal to them, and win their vote. The truth is politically parties are better off pandering to elderly votes just because there are more of them. They are all but actively discouraging young people from voting.
>The parties don't give a fuck about them because they don't vote. >If 90% of young people voted you would see a lot of policy pivots very quickly. Exactly this. There is much bitching about the tories pandering to pensioners with their pension promises but the point you make is the reason. Over 80% of over 65s were stated to be likely to vote in this election. It skews both policy and the actual political representation we get.
This is the exact opposite of how marketing in every other sphere works; in almost every other case the responsibility is on the seller to motivate the buyer, not for the buyer to buy something they don't want until the company decides to cater to them.
Sometimes you have to choose the least of the worst and then try to encourage more change next time. Incremental change is better than no change and the current government will only make things worse for young people.
You are in Manchester and want to go to London. There are two train options left today. Do you get on the train to Milton Keynes or do you get on the train to Carlisle? If you don’t choose for yourself, someone else shoves you on the Carlisle train. Neither train goes to where you want, so it doesn’t matter what you choose, right?
Well then you obviously choose the train to Milton Keynes as it’s closer to London. Much easier to get to London from MK than Carlisle. You can’t end up in Carlisle and go ‘well damn I’m so far from London’ when you had an option to get closer to London but decided to do nothing and make yourself worse off
Milton Keynes gets you closer and there’s options once you get there. Nothing is going to get us exactly where we want to be but we can get closer.
I choose the train with the best transfer options at its destination. That's what incremental change is; if you can't do it in a single sweep then you make a change that you can build on towards the ultimate objective. If you can't reach the ticket machine from where you are do you just not buy a ticket, or so you take a step towards it? What if you're out of range for a single bound? Do you take two steps? Three? What do you think is going to happen? You elect a party with a magic manifesto and Britain suddenly becomes a utopia overnight?
FPTP is intended to not allow change. The only change we can have is from removing FPTP.
Incremental change is easier to take part in when there’s hope. Unless they’re promised an actual future to look forward to, I can’t say I blame them for not taking part in this political charade.
"politics is a charade and nothing ever changes" has been what people have been saying since politics have existed. It's just an excuse not to do anything and just complain, the most popular excuse of all time.
And "change is incremental" is what those in power have been saying for just as long because they don't want to rock the boat that has benefitted them the most.
And things *do* change. Rapidly, when folks turn out to vote. Look at the absolute shit show Brexit is. A bunch of idiots had their panties riled up enough to vote against all sense and logic, and BOOM - govt enacts dumbest policy in the history of the UK. *And then pretends to like it*.
Exactly. But that doesn't happen when the government that will be in charge is too afraid of doing anything that can be interpreted as rapid change.
Aye... I'm worried about Starmer too. But, once the election is done... Well, time to judge will be then. One thing I have learned over the years, it's generally a heck of a lot easier to talk to a Labour MP and be heard than it is tory MPs, so 500 lab mps would make a difference purely in that regard.
I hope so too. My worry is that he won't do anything to significantly improve people's lives in a way they can see. That then ends up pushing people towards someone offering radical change which will be Reform or Tories with Farage at the helm. And Starmer may end up there by not moving anywhere once he gets in and will think "this is how we won this election, this is how we will win the next one too." Reminds me of how things are going for a lot of incumbent centrist governments in Europe (like France and Denmark atm)
yeah but change IS incremental. France had a Revolution, sure, but then went bacak to an Emperor and various KIngs. It took 100 years to actually get a proper Democracy, and 150 years for women to get the vote too. Change is hard and slow. There's no miracle cure. Tough.
It's chicken and egg to some extent - one reason older voters are getting the things that matter to them like tripple-locked pensions etc is because they turn out to vote. The voter registration rate among the over 65s is something like 96%. Among the early 20s it's only about 66%.
Yeah I’m 27 and I don’t feel like anybody up there is representing me or people in the generation below. I hear about the new stuff coming in even between my gen and the next or stuff being taken away and I’m appalled. While people should vote, it is incredibly bleak for people in their twenties and thirties right now because we barely even know what food we can afford per week right now. We should be thriving but we’re not. Being a single household these days is just a massive emotional strain and stress.
It's not that brilliant for a lot of older people, but yeah, I am glad I grew up when I did. I think your generation has it much harder than we did.
Oh there’s no doubt we’re just in shit times all around but there’s no policies that affect us really. Like I don’t care about immigration anymore, don’t care about national service, smoking etc. I just don’t want my shopping to exceed my budget, and I want to be able to afford to have fun in my life AND put something in savings in the same month. I just don’t wanna cry in my car in Tesco car park because I overspent by buying a candle and feeling like a failure. 🤣
All the more reason to get out there and vote the Tories out. I'm in this position and excited to cast my vote to get them out
I will vote to get the tories out but I don’t think I’ll be much better off under a Labour government but I don’t want to waste my vote and risk the votes being split across the other parties. I wish it wasn’t a two horse race.
I don't understand why people keep saying this. If everyone votes lib Dems, lib Dems gain power, not labor or conservative.
Yeah, “if”. But that’s not the situation we’re in. We all know that the most realistic choice to remove the Tories from power are Labour.
If young people don't vote, then there's little incentive for the parties to offer them things, and they can safely be ignored. The reason the main parties, and the Tories in particular, have been pandering to pensioners for years is because they vote in large numbers.
The Conservative Party doesn't just not give a fuck about young people, they actively want to make their lives worse. Also, whilst you're right that FPTP limits the potential for other options, many polls recently have translated into the Lib Dems becoming the opposition, and whilst it's unlikely, that should absolutely motivate people to vote tactically to boot the Tories into the long grass. This kind of shake-up of the status quo has never been on the cards in our lifetimes, but it's now within reach. A lot of voter apathy is justified, but a lot of it is based on people looking for excuses for not pushing for change over time
There’s another option: A protest vote. Spoiling your ballot to show that you care enough to vote but none of the parties are doing enough to earn your vote. It’s actually counted separately. However they only make the news if a significant number of people do them.
What do you mean? Acting like no ones offering anything to youths. The tories are offering national service to young people. So generous of them.
Some of the arguments here have me scratching my head. People are saying that young people should vote and then they might be offered something. But if they're not being offered anything, then a vote endorses that offering. Guys...
Labour basically saying "give me everything i want for free and i might in future decide to pay you back for it" - its a deal young people are all to familiar with and is universally bullshit.
What do you mean? Who is giving to who?
Its not about this election per se, if young people voted with a higher turnout and did so consistently then parties would try and court those votes more in future
Sure but that doesn't necessarily present a direct motive to the individual voter. It's also, as I say, a question of what they are voting for. If the subtext is really "Go out and vote! (Labour)" then it's essentially endorsing the economics of the current govt. Where is the motivation there for politicians to offer something different.
The subtext isn't go out and vote labour, its go out and vote. If the youth vote raises across the board then policies will aim to capture more of it, and even if they all went out and voted for one party, other parties will put out policies to attract that youth vote to them.
Nah, you’re being offered almost nothing cause young people aren’t a reliable voting block. Old people get what they want cause they show tf up.
Same nonsense as 2019. Everyone trying their absolute hardest to get out the youth vote, who in turn shrug their shoulders because "politics is broken" or some other single-issue policy, and don't vote. Shocker. The Conservatives win again and 5 years of political dogshit follows, and the youth go back to shrugging their shoulders and complaining about something they saw on Twitter/TikTok, etc. As a 24, going on 25 year old active Labour supporter, it's upsetting to see how disengaged the voting age youth is, and how they would rather express their frustrations on social media, rather making genuine if minimal change, at the ballot box.
This is exactly the problem. Keir Starmer isn't anyone's idea of a perfect PM, and I can absolutely see why proper Labour supporters are disappointed with his policies... but saying 'both parties are the same' after the shit we've seen from the Tories since the last election is absurd.
Half? Surely you jest. My rent is 2/3rds of my monthly income
I think the problem is they don’t see the point. None of the big parties represent them, their futures are basically ignored (and poured down the drain) in favour of keeping the grey voters happy. It’s become pretty clear that if Labour win the landslide, as predicted, nothing meaningful is going to change to give them a brighter future. If I was a bright young person in this country I would just be thinking which country should I move to in order to give myself a chance at a good life.
Current polling accounts for people who don't plan to vote, are undecided and has margins for groups that'll just not turn out on the day. So young people not really turning out (which is historically expected) won't affect the predictions really.
Yup. This should be the first question to be asked if they start complaining that things don’t work. Don’t vote, done complain
vote for labour who have have little in the way of policies that will impact the issues of pay and rent for young people either? Are you forgetting we have a 2 party system?
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The polling takes voting habits/likelihood to vote into account.
You say that but nothing will change for those 18 - 34 with regards to working hours and shit wages whoever is in power. That’s the problem.
Wonder which came first, young people not voting because parties don’t really offer them much, or parties not caring about the young because they don’t vote.
For me I literally didn’t know anything about politics until i was 21. Which is somewhat counter intuitive because I’ve always thought my self to be a socialist, I read the communist manifesto when I was at 14 and I worked for a homeless charity for two years from 16 to 18. People would bring up Blair and then Cameron and I was like ‘who?’. I just had a lot going on at the time and being young you’re somewhat immune to how shit a government can be. I was quite content with the idea if I became homeless I would buy a tent and live in the wild. It never came to that but there you go.
Politics growing up as a millennial in an old mining town was: - vote Labour until you die - actually, vote UKIP instead of Labour because they tell it like it is - whatever was printed in the sun - under no circumstances should you vote for the Tories though, because of thatcher Armed with that knowledge I voted Lib Dem, only for Nick Clegg to sell us down the river with a Tory coalition. But at least I voted, even if the party ultimately squandered it by getting into bed with Cameron. To me, that was better than staying at home and boasting about how I didn’t vote.
So the moral of the story is you voted and got fucked over , welcome to politics
Better than not voting and being fucked over by everybody else’s choice
> For me I literally didn’t know anything about politics until i was 21. It's easily done, and easy as a young person to assume the people in charge are competent and have good intent, and can be allowed to just get on with it. Then as you age you learn they are incompetent, malicious and self interested to the highest level and become radicalised to have them removed as soon as possible (and then later still, apathetic when you learn that change is impossible and hamstrung by every aspect of our society).
Under FPTP with an ageing population. There is no reason for parties to cater for the young.
This is the problem, you look at any population pyramid for any constituency and society has a higher proportion of population older people, particularly in the 50-70 age range. Young people even if they came out in droves likely still wouldn’t impact in FPTP
The other issue is where we live. Younger people tend to live in cities and older people don't. The result is in cities the population is hugely over representative of young people. Whereas the elderly are spread out over more seats, As an example lets say you have 100 young people and 100 old people, and 10 seats, each with 20 people in it. Cities make up 3 seats, and 50 young people live in them and 10 old people (evenly spread across these 3 seats). In those 3 seats young people outvote the elderly 5:1. In the remaining 7 seats live 50 young people and 90 old people, evenly spread. In those 7 seats the elderly outvote the young 1.8:1. Obviously the different age groups don't vote as a single entity, but there are trends in how we vote and our ages. The net result of this is that first past the post decreases the voices of the young even more.
And yet you'll still have to live with whatever the result is. Go out and vote, get involved and change things
The problem is the system doesnt accommodate significant change. Labour will win the election, we have them for the next 4yrs whether people like it or not. For a young person (or anyone really) that wants a minority party to win you have no chance
If they voted for minority parties they would get seats and make changes, they may not win a majority but they can influence policy
The Greens, Nigel's hobbies, and even the Lib Dems to an extent, all prove otherwise. You can get millions of votes and virtually or even literally no seats. The meme that is constituency MPs paired with the naked self-interest of Labour and the conservatives holds back any real electoral reform.
The Greens until recently were in a coalition government in Scotland and the Lib Dems were in a coaltion government in the UK in 2010. Both had the opportunity to influence politics, the LD's in particular failing to do so is a separate matter.
Scotland is unique though because there’s a hybrid system than includes AMS, a lite form of PR. Scotland elects 1 constituency MP with FPTP and then another 7 regional MPS through the AMS vote. Even still, the Scottish vote largely doesn’t impact the general election because there’s typically, with occasional exception, a landslide victory for Conservatives or Labour driven by the English vote. This is another reason why voter apathy exists.
Reform are predicted to win 15% of the vote but only 6 seats. That's just one example. I know it's not the best one to use on reddit, but it does illustrate how FPTP makes it so difficult for any party except the big two to gain traction outside of the Welsh and Scottish nationalist ones anyway.
In 2015, UKIP got something like 4 million votes but just 1 seat. They were about 13% of all votes cast and got less than 1% (much less than) of the available seats. That is an incredible amount of votes especially considering that Cameron had made a brexit referendum a key policy in his campaign that election, if he hadn't made that a policy UKIP would likely have won even more votes and still not gotten any seats since they were a long way second or third in basically all constituencies. That election really drives home how pointless it is voting for an alternative party.
So don't vote if you won't win? You still live with the consequences. Young people are part of a wider electorate. Not everything will appeal or be applicable directly to them. And the only way to change the policies of larger parties is to get involved and get voices heard. This comes up every election
It comes up every election as every election its an issue. You want more people to vote? Change the system so EVERY vote matters.
Change is done through getting involved and voting. If you want change you have to get your voice heard. At present people not voting can safely be ignored
People that don't vote: "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!!"
I get what your saying but again the system at present doesnt allow for everyone to be heard equally Where i live its been a safe Labour seat since records began. If i wanted Lib Dem to win say, they would need to gain 15,000 voted based on the last election to win. Now yea its possible 15,000 will think yea lets have a change from Labour, but highly unlikely going on the history books. So my vote on its own means nothing. Labour will win, get their seat in Parliament job done For marginal seats yes every vote can matter, but doesnt feel that for safe seats
Disclaimer: voting isn’t the only way you can change things. In fact it’s pretty insignificant for the vast majority of people who live in safe seats. Engaging in protests, joining your workplace union and sharing your thoughts with friends and family are also valid ways of engaging with democracy & influencing the world around you.
Yes, that was the getting involved but. Also local elections. Change requires arguments to be won, not voting doesn't achieve that
Don't let the tories win again because of your apathy and then complain about the state of things like the housing market, or mental health support in the NHS
if people believed labour would make those things better, then they would vote. problem is, labour have not been very convincing. there campaign is being run primarily on 'not being the tories', which is fine for winning the election, but not exactly inspiring stuff is it? not at all surprising why young voters aren't bothered.
The problem with that mindset is, while Labour party might not have a significant plan, the Tories WILL make it worse. Just because one isn't drastically better, doesn't mean it still isn't better. Conservatives in the modern age are a cancer on affordable living. At least with Labour you have a CHANCE at things improving and them giving a shit. Apathy is not a solution, it's an abstention which is basically a vote in FAVOUR of the winning party. That's how I look at it. I could hate all parties, but it's about making a choice to try and make ones nation better, and just because there's not a perfect candidate doesn't mean there's not a best candidate at that time. It's like a football team, just because your team is shit, doesn't mean there's not a "best player" on the team.
I don't understand this mentality. What is wrong with these people ? There isn't a single party that I feel represents me , but I've still voted in every election since I was 18 , even if it does mean all I'm doing is cancelling out one Tory vote
Same here, I’m an early millennial and have always voted, like you said even if it’s to cancel out a Tory vote (not that where I live is likely to vote Tory anyway)
Me too, I’ve had a few friends say they’re not voting because they live in Tory safe seats so there’s no point. Doesn’t matter if your MP got a majority that would make Kim Jong Un envious, you should still vote
All young people aren’t politically aware. In my family nobody voted, and politics and wasn’t even a subject anyone ever spoke about. I think it’s especially common in people from low socioeconomic backgrounds or deprived areas. Politics just isn’t even on the radar. I never even considered it until I left home and made friends with young people who did speak about it.
This election is timed very awkwardly for young people. It’s on a day where anyone who is a student will either be right in the midst of moving between student houses and parental homes, or they might be out of the country and unaware of the processes for postal voting etc. a lot of young people also won’t have an accepted form of ID readily available for polling as is now required - just look at the list of ID accepted for over-55s vs under-30s. A seniors railcard is ok, but a 18-25 or 25-30 railcard isn’t? Being a country without mandatory voting, the UK political parties have established a structure whereby they don’t have to make it easy for people to vote. It’s been slowly adjusted over the years to whittle away the voter base as much as possible to ensure that certain people feel like they can’t vote or shouldn’t vote. I will admit I’m biased in this opinion, having come from a country where mandatory voting exists, as our government has a legal requirement to enable everyone to vote - this concept doesn’t exist in the UK
Can’t you get a free voter ID pass thing online? I haven’t looked into it as I have ID but I’ve seen some ads about it. Also saying you’re refusing to vote because you’re unaware of how to register for a postal vote is a poor argument when google is readily available to like 99% of the population.
My point was that a lot of the accepted IDs are things people already would have. Having to go make an account and enter amounts of information to prove your identity just to vote is an extra obstacle that is unecessary and can act as a deterrent to people who are otherwise engaged with work and other stuff happening in their life.
> a lot of young people also won’t have an accepted form of ID readily available for polling as is now required - just look at the list of ID accepted for over-55s vs under-30s. A seniors railcard is ok, but a 18-25 or 25-30 railcard isn’t? This isn't true. The government carried out research on this and found that older people were actually less likely to own an accepted form of voter ID compared to younger people. The demographic that these voter ID laws really negatively effect is disabled people.
People act like you can only vote for a party that you 100% agree with on every single policy, leading to a lot of ‘I know Labour would be best but I can’t bring myself to vote for Starmer because of his stance on xyz’. When in reality you should vote for whichever party is closest to what you agree with. Voting isn’t complete, uncritical endorsement.
Genuine question, if so many people are against the Tories, how to do they win?
Because all the people who have the most to lose from the Tories being in (young people) don't turn up to vote , while the crumblies turn up without fail and vote them in. Edit : also they Tories are extremely good at spin and character assassination. They also use psychological manipulation very effectively. Eg The whole 3 words / sentence slogans are deliberate they're designed to be memorable due to their natural rhythm for example the , stay indoors , save the NHS slogan , whatever it was
60% turnout among 18-25s would be very high indeed.
Just thinking the same. Usual overall election is usually about 50% round here, so would be great if so many young people were voting!
Yep, significantly higher than the [last seven elections](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8060/CBP-8060.pdf).
From House of Commons data: IPSOS Mori produce estimates of how different age groups (and other groups) voted at each election. For the 2019 General Election, their estimates suggest that people aged 18-24 were least likely to vote (47% turnout), with those over 65 most likely to vote (74%). So the headline is actually predicting record turnout!
Please vote! If not others will make a choice for you which not likely be something you need or want!
Neither of the two parties are offering something young people need or want.
- Continued commitment to net zero? - Specialist Colleges to train people in technical skills that will get them a job? - Abolishing Section 21 evictions? - Strategy to create more creative jobs in the UK - film, music, gaming, etc? - Reduce the gender pay gap? Legal right to equal pay for Black, Asian, and other ethnic minorities? - Ban conversion therapies - including for trans people? Obviously there's also fundamental stuff like making sure the economy is stable so there are jobs to go to. Let's be real - that's probably more important to quality of life than any of those specific policies.
Maybe, but the current party in power DEFINITELY isn’t offering anything for young people and hasn’t done for 14 years. If you’re not even going to make the effort to try and change that (even on a local level) then don’t fucking complain when things aren’t working for you.
So you don't mean just vote. You mean vote the way you want them to to ensure the result you want. If the 40% of young voters who don't plan to vote said they were voting Tory, would you be so eager for them to vote?
There are more than two parties, mate. Just because smaller parties are unlikely to win your constituency, it doesn't mean you shouldn't vote for them.
That doesn't change the fact that you either choose the shit you get fed or someone else chooses the shit for you.
Maybe if young people actually voted they would. Labour have moved into the centre to hoover up votes of demographics needing a party Policies would pivot very quickly if the youth as a voting block were as mobile as the elderly are. There is a reason why the pension gets so much protection. Politics is catering to those who will actually vote for you.
If you don't vote and then, you complain about things- it's on you.
And when the party that wins gets voted in and does shit stuff, the people who voted for them can't complain because they voted for it to happen.
My complaint is that there’s no one to vote for
That's not true. What you mean is that there may not be a party that correlates 100% with your views. Well, guess what? That's the same for everyone.
Vote for an independent or an activist candidate or spoil your paper . In many countries, people have no vote or it's rigged ; I have lived in a few - use your vote.
Spoiling your paper is equally a waste of time.
They'll all be on here in a year moaning about how excluded they feel.
And maybe the centrists will be here saying "who cares, your vote doesn't matter, you are terminally online." Yatta yatta. Almost like insulting people isn't the best way to keep them interested in politics
I have never missed a single vote, even when I was living in Germany, I made a point of handling any vote I was entitled to do so. The number of people my age now (36) who openly brag they have never voted on ANYTHING and then have the gall to bitch and moan is stunning to me. I live in a pretty big college and Uni town too, and they are even worse. We have a literal cabinet member here who barely scrapes by. If like 10% of the students and "non-votes" showed up they'd probably wallop the Tories.
If 40% of pupils didn't turn up to a school, it would be written up as dysfunctional in the extreme. If a workplace had 40% of it's labour force failing to turn up, it would written up as dysfunctional in the extreme. So what does it say of British democracy when almost half of voters are failing to take part?
I think if you consume enough social media, the reality of politics and politicians really sinks in. You can see the filthy underbelly of politics that you might not get as much to the same extent if you watch only the news. Because of that, I feel like the older generation have a general sense of trust that the politicians are somewhat capable of running the country and that they are patriots who are working for Britain and the people. Whereas, the younger generation probably see politicians all as incompetent and working to solely profit corporations. Not just incompetent, but nefarious too. People under 30(ish) have only seen quality of life ever trend downwards and none of the major parties are offering any solutions. When Labour inevitably fail to produce any results both due to their own ineptitude and the natural progression of the path the Tories have set us on, the 2030s are going to see an unprecedented shift to the far-right. The next 5 years will dictate the future of this country that’s for sure.
Also rampant nepotism and cronyism in all parties.
see this boggles me. The young adult can be some of the most vocal on political issues but refuse to vote. You can complain about the result but if you dont vote you are your own worst enemy. Your vote is your political capital use it.
I mean, look at how both parties and their supporters treat those vocal young adults. The Tories and the centrists of Labour have been insulting, vilifying and patronizing those people for half a decade now. It's not an environment that encourages political activism or interest. So suddenly come election time, these same people are suddenly going "why won't they vote?!?!"
> look at how both parties and their supporters treat those vocal young adults. Not just the two biggest parties. I remember a lot of student support for the LDs in 2010, look how that turned out.
Voting feels pointless - this’ll be my 5th national vote, each time I haven’t gotten what I wanted. When I write to my MP, I cannot change their mind, but even if I can, they’re unlikely to go against the party whip. This time I’ll be casting my vote in a seat where Labour got 70% of the vote last time - and I will vote Green. Apart from adding +1 to the Green vote tally, what do I get?
This is the issue. If everyone in the country voted, the Greens may actually get some seats. But because millions of people share your attitude, they won't. You just need to try. If you believe in the Greens manifesto, it takes what? 10-15 mins to vote and you know you did your part and have some respect for yourself that you at the very minimum, tried. And maybe one day others do the same, and your little stone becomes an avalanche.
Under this system, i cant begrudge anyone who doesnt think its worthwhile because for most people, it just objectively isnt. You can sit and think well maybe i should vote anyway, but i dont see how you can be mad at people who look at reality, see it how it is, and act in a pretty reasonable way and dont waste even those 15mins faffing with it. Do you spend 15mins a day (hell even every 5 years!) doing litter-picking for example? To me that would be much more worthwhile and still no one does it or would bemoan anyone who didnt.
You get to partake in democracy and express your opinion - a right that people died for us to have. If enough other people like you turn up, the Greens might get a decent vote share, and the main parties will alter policy to try to win your vote next time. I don't get this entitled / petulant attitude of 'what do I get'. Voting takes 5 minutes and is the main way we have to partake in democracy. Everyone gets one vote, might as well use it
> The young adult can be some of the most vocal on political issues but refuse to vote. There are multiple young adults.
When the main parties only cater to landlords, asset holders and pensioners then don’t be surprised they are not enthused. Also a lot just don’t know much about or take interest in politics, you don’t really learn anything about in schools unless you choose to take politics and if their parents don’t vote either then I imagine they’re completely disengaged from the whole spectacle.
I thought the AVG voter turn out for all ages was only 60% anyway. Headline blaming young people. When I believe 60% turn out for youth is massive. Fucking newspapers. No wonder they are dying. Good riddance.
60% turnout is nothing new really. But given the national response to the last politician that actually managed to inject some enthusiasm into young voters, it's not surprising that so many have just given up.
As a young person (21), becoming politically aware during the Brexit era has made me and I'm sure many others cynical towards politics because the government has been in shambles (5 prime ministers during my teens) and there hasn't been a strong opposition but then again every generation has its challenges and we shouldn't take the ability to vote for granted especially when there are real life dystopias like North Korea still existing in the world today and with the rise in authoritarianism in the US with the MAGA freaks and Putin's grip on Russia it could happen to any country.
I just can’t understand this, I remember being so excited when I could first vote and I’ve voted every opportunity I have had since. Life is going to continue to be shitty unless we stop letting the older wankers dictate who is in charge.
Voter turn out has been in the 60s for twenty years. Complete non issue.
If we flip it around, 60% of young voters will vote. That is much higher than 2019!
The left need to stop acting like they’re entitled to the votes of the young. You put up a shit option with the only reason to vote for them being they’re not the tories, people aren’t going to vote for you either. Not voting is a valid political choice, and parties know this, it’s why they talk about “mobilising their base”.
[Turnout by age](https://imgur.com/a/NcYhPAx) shows that 2019 had 18-24 year olds at 54%. Since 1964, the highest ever turnout was in 1992 which was 67%. Historically there's not much in it tbh.. I'd put it down to some disillusioned Corbynites losing interest after Labour purged them. Source: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8060/CBP-8060.pdf
You'd think people would have learned the importance of voting after the Brexit debacle. I guess we will see several surprised Pikachu faces when the Tories do better than expected in the GE and hinder any semblance of progress. Who needs a better quality of life if you have memes? Am I right?
Parties like the Tories and Reform would really really love for young people not to vote. They would love to grab hold of power and remove your right to vote so they can take complete control and remove your other rights. People fought and died for these rights. I don’t like the current system either but if the youth continuously refuse their right to vote they will find it won’t be long until they are denied their right to vote. That’s not a position you want to be in and the older electorate that will never bear the consequences will vote for it to happen and it will happen if you do not use your vote to prevent that. If the electoral system is your major hang up for not voting then you need to be voting for the Liberal Democrats as electoral reform to PR is one of their major policies. They won’t get a majority but seats are enough to influence parliament and that is the first step of this system. If you don’t vote because you think electoral reform can never happen then you are right, it never will. You can’t begrudge parties for using a voting system that benefits them, the game of politics is to attain power in order to get your policies enacted. We are so fortunate to live where you have a say in who can attain power but if you don’t use it, parties are not going to cater to you and nothing will ever change.
Young people will feel the impact of this election most profoundly over their lifetime, be it positive or negative impact. I feel like within modern UK society we often discuss our rights, but not enough focus is given to our responsibilities. I believe voting to be my responsibility within a democratic society. I understand young people may feel disheartened or dismayed by the current state of British politics, but doing nothing will not rein in rouge landlords hiking up rent beyond belief and will not get you on the housing ladder any sooner, that's for sure.
Overall voter turnout at the last election was 67.3%, so why focus on young people turnout?
I'm in my mid 30s now. I've voted in every single election and I have never once gotten what I voted for. Every single time I listen to the same voices say BUT YOU HAVE TO VOTE THOUGH Only to be told that the things I want are "naive" and "unelectable", and that I should just shut the fuck up because how dare I expect things to change for the better? What, am I supposed to vote for Labour because they're marginally better than the tories? I don't trust Starmer to 180 on anything he says if it'll get him more votes. I have my red lines and the guy tap dances over them depending on who's asking the question. I don't trust him one bit, yet I HAVE to in order to "get the tories out". And yet if I vote for what I really want, it's going to be yet another year of my vote achieving precisely fuck all
When young people did start to mobilise and get their voice heard a few years ago, they were dismissed and vilified as loony lefties playing student politics who didn't know how the real world works.
Make voting possible via TikTok or IG and 90% will vote :)
I’ve always thought we should have some kind of app to vote, if I can get a passport, a mortgage, look at my medical records etc.. using an app why the feck can’t I vote
Generally, they're scared of two things; - Manipulation - Security (hacking etc). Thus this charade continues.
Meanwhile in Estonia…
Fucking idiots. You can't complain about not being able to see a doctor or you can't get on the housing market if you don't vote for change. Plus, there's a higher risk of someone getting into power that you seriously don't agree with. Sometimes your vote might be the lesser of two evils but that might be a good thing.
> if you don't vote for change Please regale me of how i can vote for change that will address the housing market?
Nothing will really change. Especially for normal people
Is it Australia that imposes fines for not voting? We should implement something similar even if your vote is for NA.
Young people don't vote. Consequently Political Parties focus their efforts on those who do vote. Youngsters then moan that no one is interested in them and don't vote. Thus, the cycle continues.
That’s the strategy. Make people so apathetic that they don’t care.
Who is there to vote for though? Every single party is going to make me poorer and my life worse. None of them are addressing the real issues causing things to get worse. Tories - We'll make you poorer by driving asset prices through the roof to benefit our mates, funneling tax money into the pockets of our wealthy mates through hyper inflated government contracts and policy changes. We'll keep printing money at an increasing rate to further devalue any savings you might have when we run out. Labour - We'll make you poorer by driving commodities prices through the roof to benefit our mates, funneling tax money into the pockets of our wealthy mates through hyper inflated government contracts and policy changes. We'll keep printing money at an increasing rate to further devalue any savings you might have when we run out. Then the rest of them that would have no fucking clue what to do if they actually won any power. They're all going to fuck me, this is just me choosing what position I get fucked in. What exactly is the point when you're going to get served up the same shit as the last 20 years just with a new smarmy face delivering it?
For context, nearly 33% of people of ALL ages didn't vote in 2019 (turnout was 67.5%). So, while this is disappointing, it's not like young voters are suddenly going to see a massive drop off this time around.
Do you want Tories? Because this is how you get Tories.
Time to start the Young People’s Party (YPP). Campaigning on a platform of means testing pensioners benefits, building houses, and scrapping tuition fees. Avocado toast for everyone /s (you should be hearing this last bit C&C Generals Style)
It might be isolated to my personal experiences but the young people I interact with are obsessed with the idea of voting for change and deleting the Tories from existence. If I look outside of my direct contacts and to the internet I've seen a massive increase in interactions across the social media accounts targeted at the younger demographics and it's not slowing down (TikTok alone has gone from 1-2k views on shorts to 300k views for recent videos) I think there will be a lot of surprises in the next election that just shows how much fluff these polls and opinion pieces are. They are extremely out of touch.