UK General Election 2010: What’s in it for the Youth – Education and Employment.

The UK General Election – now just days away – is arguably one of the most hotly contested elections since the early 1960′s. This election really has been brought to life through the power of social media, and of course the live televised debates, allowing voters to really savor what the prospective three major parties are offering within their manifestos for future years to come. Which may sound great to all of you, but as a first time voter there is a familiar picture emerging across all three parties, which is quite simply that vulnerable children and young people in general have somewhat been overlooked.

As Ellie said in Sunday’s blog, voter turn-out amongst young people is pretty dire. It’s not the fact that young people aren’t interested – it’s sleeze, hype, negative headlines and unappealing leaders which are, put together, enough to turn any voter off.

Although when you read into these party manifestos (which is definitely recommended for any first time voter), you kind of understand why young people feel disillusioned. It’s become more apparent that these parties haven’t really thought about what is at stake for us as young people and how they can appeal to us directly.

Take higher education – an issue that most young people are concerned about. Our current government has had totally conflicting policies on higher education (that is, degree level or further). On the one hand they have a target of 50% of young people getting degrees (thus lowering the value of degrees and forcing more people to study to higher levels), yet on the other they have overseen the introduction and steady rise of tuition fees which all universities now charge. Not only is the UK now one of the most expensive places to study in the world (the average student leaves university with £25-30,000 worth of debt compared with American students leaving with an average of £20,000), but it is set to rise to an average of £45,000 per student by the end of 2015. Both the Labour and Conservative governments are publically promising to raise tuition fees, in effect pledging to increase the financial barriers to getting the education they are pushing for young people to get.

Only the Liberal Democrat party has pledged to scrap tution fees – and even this election promise is on hold until the financial crisis is over!

Another topic where young people have been given the hard end of the stick – employment and training. Of young people aged 16 to 18 in England, 10% are classified as ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) – one of the highest rates in Europe. Youth unemployment is at it’s highest since 1993 and is the biggest concern amongst first time voters today. 19.4% of those aged 16-24 are actively seeking work, compared to adults where unemployment stands at 7.8%. Combined with record levels of graduate unemployment (and debts) and a proclivity for unpaid internships – young people are facing a tough deal. Yet the party manifestos don’t go much further than to highlight the problem – with few making any costed proposals that hold up to scrutiny.

These questions and concerns boggle the mind – and that only covers education and training! If you factor in environmental sustainability, healthcare, public transport and all the other issues which affect young people day-to-day its unsurprising that we feel disinclined to vote. It definitely seems like we are the voiceless, the ignored and the disenfranchised. I guess it also means it’s up to us to change it…

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I would like to thank my proof reader and Editor Ellie Hopkins.