So I'm back to my usual Thursday
blogging. This week I thought that I would talk about an issue that I feel is
very important and could well affect next year's general election. That is
young people and the voting, particularly first time voters.
According to an article that I read
in the Worcester News website, there will be approximately 2 million first time
voters in 2015.
The article goes to say how those
young voters are planning to "shun" the ballot box, due to an
increasing disillusionment with politics in general. It then back this up with
a survey that the paper conducted that of 1000 first time voters in Worcester,
only 41% have indicated that they intend to vote next May. That is down from
2010, in which an Ipsos Mori poll found that only 44%!
Of the 18-24 age
group bothered to vote. The breakdown was as follows:
Men:
50%
Women:
39%
The
figure for the young, female vote I found particularly disturbing and I'm sure
many female politicians and political activists will. Especially, after the
long battle that was fought in Britain by groups like the Suffragettes fought
so passionately for the vote. As my still nameless Tory friend would say:
"What would have Mrs Pankhurst have said!"
I
think that there is a lot of truth in that remark, as what would women such as
Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Wilding Davison and other Suffragettes would say at
those figures. Particularly Emily Wilding Davison, who was famously martyred
for the cause by colliding with the King's horse at the Epsom Derby in June 1913.
Going
back to the local newspaper article in Worcester, I think one comment by a
student rally sums up the discontent that young people currently feel with the political
system:
"People my age are rarely into politics because they
don't think it will make a difference."
The
student goes onto say:
"If you ask people not at university I reckon it
will be especially low. It's not good."
For
me that highlights the issue particularly well that a lot of young people feel
cut off from the politics and the decisions that affect their lives. In addition to the lack of exposure to the
political world for those young people who have not had the privilege of a
university education.
The
article also quotes an A-level politics student from Worcester, who said:
"You can't blame the politicians in my
opinion."
"Young people have got to want to get involved.
There are a lot of people my age who are interested, but most are not."
I
can see both sides of the argument that is presented here. Although I would
have to agree with the former rather than the latter argument. However, they
both point to the same point of a lack of interest/awareness in most young
people, due to a lack education or understanding.
This
speaks true for me, as my political education was almost zilch throughout
secondary school, until I did AS History. In a lesson about Stalin's
ideological position within the post Lenin power grab, my History teacher
explained the left-right spectrum to us. With some additions from where he
thought individual newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and the
News of the World fell on this spectrum. I was completely unaware that there
was such a thing as left-right and assumed that all politicians were the
"same" and just had different opinions.My real political education came at university in York. At the fresher's fair wandering around the stall, being bribed to sign the mailing list of a variety of societies. Then I came across where the area where the political societies were. I saw the Tories in their suits and smugness and thought "Nah", and Labour didn't appeal to me much either. I remember speaking to the Lib Dems and asking:
"What effect do you think that being in coalition
with the Tories will have on the Lib Dems."
Now
this was October 2010, pre-everything that has happened since, and so the
response that I got is somewhat justified:
"Well let's wait and see…"
I
then came across the Greens and signed up to their mailing list. I only
properly became involved in the 2011 local elections in York, and the rest they
say is history. What I am trying to say here is that politics shouldn't only be
accessible at university, but much earlier. We need to have a radical shake up
of how we teach politics in school. Maybe even lower the voting age to 16. But isn't this just all empty words? Aren't actions louder than words?
Well in answer to that I have been doing something to try and help to engage the disenfranchised. Well on Tuesday, I went to Rotherham to talk to some first time voters about the importance of voting and why they should go to the ballot box on May 7th 2015.
The
talk was part of a week-long event that was hosted by Sarah Champion (pictured),
the Labour MP for Rotherham, called Sarah's Summer School. The summer school
was open to all young people in Rotherham aged 16-24.
Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham at her by-election victory in 2012.
On the day there was only a small group of
about 5-6 in the end, but still it was very interesting to listen and engage
with them. For a small group there was a large amount of variety amongst them,
but there was one common theme and that was that they wanted to learn more
about politics. So that does show that there is some interest in politics with
young voters. All that it takes is a bit of effort from those of us who are
interested/ engaged in politics. So let's do it and make a difference!
As
I am conscious of this being a long post and I will return to this topic. So
over and out for this week.
