Can Britain’s young politicians offer something different?
They spend their time folding leaflets, knocking on doorsteps and some even take to real life trolling of their opponents events. So I couldn’t resist asking the youth party leaders – “aren’t you just a little bit weird…?” “We’re probably seen as geeks, I’m not going to lie” says Alex Harding, Chair of Liberal Democrat Youth.
All seven of the youth party leaders are deeply passionate and clearly very committed to their respective parties – Chris Glendinning from SNP youth told me he’s sitting exams in the next five days, Alexandra Paterson from the Conservatives almost cheerily said she’d be spending more time with party activists than her family during the campaign period.
But contrast that to most people of their age, few now join political parties and in fact at the last election in 2010, nearly 6 out of 10 young people (aged 18-24) didn’t even vote at all. That doesn’t mean they’re not interested in politics at all. I’ve met so many younger voters who are politically engaged, opinionated and yet frustrated that the ‘mainstream’ doesn’t seem to be offering the kinds of policies they seek.
No doubt, some of the young leaders will end up as MPs, cabinet ministers and perhaps one even might make it to the very top job. But can a new generation of political leaders offer something different? Or are they in danger of just repeating the same party political messaging, which turns off so many young voters? I’ll let you decide – watch the full debate tonight on All4 – at 8pm and tweet along with #youthleaders