Currently voter apathy is high and in young people it is
even higher. Less than 50% of 18-24 year olds voted in the 2010 general
election and far fewer voted in the recent local elections. After listening to
BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat Exclusive with John Bercow talking to young people about
the reasons they don’t vote, I thought I would write this blog on the reasons
why I thought this was.
Firstly with the average age of an MP currently being 50, it
is no wonder that young people say that politicians don’t represent them purely
based upon the huge age differences. The reasons why MPs are older, is a
reverse phenomenon of ageism as it is perceived politicians are required to have
had a certain number of years’ experience before qualifying to be able to serve
in office. This bodes the question, why does having years of life experience
make you a suitable MP as surely an MP is there to represent all constituents
and not have to had the varying life experiences of all of their constituents.
I think it is vitally important that these huge disparities in age are
addressed in order to get a more representative House of Commons that can deal
with youth issues effectively by using younger MPs more up to date knowledge.
The MPs expenses scandal has also played a huge role with
turning off the electorate as a whole however the expenses scandal for many
young people will have been the first time many of them have interacted with
politics in any way. As first
impressions of the political system are negative this expenses scandal has
resulted in a negative portrayal of all, meaning many innocent MPs were tarred
with the same brush as other MPs that abused the system. The vast majority of MPs, who abused the
system, have only faced minor punishments, with even those imprisoned facing
lenient sentences in comparison to those convicted from the riots last year. An
isolated case is where 23 year old Nicolas Robinson was sentenced to 6 months
in prison for stealing £3.50 worth of bottled water from LIDL whilst Eric Illsley
who fiddled his expenses to the tune of £14,000 received a sentence of merely 12
months. These double standards boasted of pure hypocrisy especially as many
politicians came out and demanded harsh sentences for looters and rioters whereas
these politicians were part of the same class who had fiddled their expenses.
It appeared that there in law there was one rule for politicians and another
rule for young people. This surely caused greater apathy between young people
and the political class and this lack of trust in politics is another reason
why young people choose not to vote.
Coalition politics has also led to a big turn-off of current
young voters. The Liberal Democrats undoubtedly wooed first time voters with
the promise of a new type of politics and received a large number of votes as a
result. However once Lib Dems entered the coalition, this new type of politics
didn’t remain with broken promises on VAT, the NHS and most prominently the
tripling of tuition fees. When first time voters, results in an outcome where
the party they voted for explicitly, results in an outcome where the party they
voted for, went against their promises, it tars all politicians with the same
brush as not keeping their promises. There are so many young people that say,
what’s the point in voting for a manifesto when a party in government will go
against this as soon as elected? However this has been a problem for all
political parties, coalition politics has made this worse and in particular the
impression of a first-time voter of being “lied” could turn off them for voting
again.
Another reason why I think young people don’t vote is due to
the lack of political education in schools. Citizenship lessons, which are now
rarely taught, should help prepare students for the political landscape. In my
experience politics is not taught at all so is no surprise when people don’t
know their local MP, don’t know the Prime Minister and even accuse Gordon Brown
of increasing tuition fees to £9000 (as a counterpart at my sixth form did). In
order to address the lack of political involvement from young people, I think
it is essential that political education is put at the forefront of an improved
citizenship syllabus so young people fell they can get fully involved in the
democratic process.
I think these reasons can be summarised into a general
mistrust of politicians, how young people feel politicians don’t represent them
and the lack of political education in schools. In order to counteract this
voter apathy I think it is hugely important that MPs start to reflect the
general population in terms of age (not to mention to address the gender
imbalance) and it is important that MPs interact with young people on issues
that actually affect them. Young people say that political parties and
politicians are not interested in them and to some extent this is true, as it
appears that governing parties are not as interested in young people as other
demographic groups for example the retired. This comes from the fact that
because young people don’t come out and vote unlike older people, parties don’t
need to tailor their policies for young people as they won’t win votes by doing
so as statistically young people vote less than older people. This results in a
spiral where young people don’t vote and therefore parties don’t treat them as
equal members of the electorate.
Young people may say they are not interested in politics but
when politicians discuss issues with them, young people inherently are
political without necessarily thinking of themselves as party political. However
it is important that all political parties and institutions take this youth
disengagement in politics seriously so that we can truly say we have a better
democracy where the majority of young people choose to vote.
