Why don’t we care about politics? Hope Baker, Dame Alice Owen’s

The problem of low youth engagement begins far earlier than when young people reach voting age; namely, in the classroom. Although some schools have made efforts to introduce an element of political education into their curriculum, whilst religious education is mandatory in schools until the age of 18 across England, any form of compulsory political education remains absent from the curriculum. Nearly half of young people in the UK believe that there aren’t enough opportunities to learn about politics and democracy at school – and chronic underfunding of state schools creates a challenge for any schools which may wish to include it. Children who have not had the privilege of growing up in a politically engaged household where they can develop an interest in and understanding of politics are often given no option to do so up until A-level, where they are unlikely to choose it as a subject either because it feels inaccessible to them or they think they don’t ‘care’ about politics. The lack of opportunity for casual, non-examined, political education means that when young people become eligible to vote at 18, they do not feel informed enough to exercise their democratic right and essentially ‘opt out’ of the political system. In fact, 44% of people recall not feeling knowledgeable on politics and democracy when they became old enough to vote.

Not only must we look to the education system to understand why young people today have such low rates of engagement in politics, but also to our mainstream political parties. Their relationship with the young electorate has created a culture within which it feels like they don’t have a place in politics. The main political parties do not feel that it is particularly necessary to appeal to the young electorate because they are aware of how few will vote when they turn 18. Policies and political campaigns are targeted towards the older generation, who are more likely to vote, leaving 71% of young people to feel that political parties and candidates don’t speak enough to their generation when campaigning in the lead up to elections. In a youth survey carried out by the EU Parliament, the majority of respondents said that they feel they don’t have much, or any, say over important decisions, laws and policies affecting them. Consequently, the young electorate feel that today’s political parties do not speak for or serve them, creating a sentiment of disillusionment and disengagement. Thus, a vicious cycle is created. As the youth shrinks as a proportion of the electorate, mainstream political parties have less and less need to appeal to them. No wonder Labour and Conservative policies are geared towards older voters when, in 2015, 18-24 year olds only made up 7% of the voting electorate whilst over 65s made up 25%.

In a time of multiple global crises, many young people also feel that the discourse between key political parties does not reflect their concerns and the issues they care about. The aforementioned survey carried out by the EU Parliament found that the political issues that respondents would most like to see prioritised are tackling poverty and social inequality, followed by combating climate change and protecting the environment. Yet all Labour and the Conservatives seem to talk about is growth, growth, growth and pensions. Whilst both are important issues, the level of priority they are given above policies to tackle both climate change and poverty is no coincidence. Young people constantly see politicians talking about anything but the impending climate disaster and the need to build more housing, both to support future generations and to help lift people today out of poverty; at times it can feel like there is very little difference left between the two big parties. It is because of this that the Green Party, a small party with a central focus on a green initiative in all policy areas, has seen a huge surge in youth and student membership in recent years. A recent survey showed that 13% of young people name the Green Party as their preferred party. Whilst this may seem small, for a relatively new political party with only one MP in the House of Commons, this is a significant proportion which speaks volumes about what young people want to see on today’s political agenda.

It would appear therefore, that it’s not that young people just don’t care about politics. It is rather that if you don’t provide young people with the tools and education they need to understand how politics impacts every aspect of our lives and why it’s so important to be at least slightly engaged, you render the system inaccessible to them. The sad paradox is that only when a government brings in a vote on mandatory basic political education in all schools will this be changed. In a system where it does not suit the key political parties to make young people an active part of the electorate, this change in legislation is not likely because they would then have to listen to the concerns of a politically educated youth. The burden thus lies not only with the older generations to politically educate the youth the best they can in these circumstances, but also with the youth to educate themselves the best they can – and to learn to care so that they do not fall foul of a system stacked against them.