Parties must lure the young to vote

12:27pm Tuesday 20th May 2008

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Carla Butler became a Newhaven councillor at the age of 21. Last week, now 26, she was voted in as the youngest ever person to chair Lewes District Council - or any other council, for that matter. Here, she gives her views on how to engage young people in politics.

You hear it all the time.

"Young people are apathetic".

"Youngsters aren't interested in politics, only in having a good time." It's as if politics is only for people over 40.

If that's the case, then I'm something of a freak. But actually, I'm not alone.

Look around and you'll see a lot of twenty-somethings involved in politics. I am the youngest chair the council has had and my Liberal Democrat colleague James Mac- Cleary has just become the youngest member of the district council's cabinet.

And it's not just local. One of the outsiders tipped to lead the Lib- Dems at our leadership election last year was Julia Goldsworthy, who was 29, and in 2005 Jo Swinson became the youngest MP at the age of 24.

These are perhaps exceptions, and young people are under-represented in party politics. But note the word party - young people aren't uninterested in politics of a non-party nature. In fact, give them a cause and they'll show massive interest and passion.

My recent experience campaigning to save the West Beach in Newhaven has demonstrated this.

Hundreds of local young people have signed the petition and joined the Facebook campaign group. It has been important that they have young local councillors they can relate to.

What bugs young people is when they look at traditional party politics and the attitudes that go with it they feel it has no relevance for them. That's when you lose people.

Take the environment. This is a massive issue among teenagers and twenty-somethings. Young people have grown up with the idea that resources will run out and we have to take action to stop this, both personally and by councils and Governments.

And let's face it, we are the group that will face the biggest consequences of environmental destruction 30 or 40 years down the line, so we should certainly have a say in the solutions.

Yet what are the solutions? When you see local politicians promoting out-of-date ideas such as burning our rubbish - at massive expense - rather than recycling and other modern options, is it any wonder young people turn off?

Young people face the daunting task of trying to get on to the property ladder. They need the helping hand that affordable housing offers, yet affordable projects are often opposed by those who already have their house and don't want to see their local environment change.

Yet these people were only able to buy their homes due to massive post-war house building programmes.

The result is that young people, particularly in the South East, are forced to devote more and more of their income to high rents, and those at the bottom of the ladder face temporary accommodation or homelessness.

Does it matter that young people aren't engaging with party politics?

I think it does, because a democracy of the type we have in Britain will only work if everyone is represented.

For that to happen, you need people to participate in politics both at and outside election times.

People under 30 are underrepresented in both of these, particularly at a local level. This is a selfperpetuating cycle. The less representative local councils are, the more irrelevant they become to voters. Young people must be represented from town and parish council level upwards. They are as affected by the decisions made at these levels as anyone else.

So how do we make party politics more attractive to young people?

Politicians of all parties must make politics look attractive as well as their own party. When people see an issue at district, county or national level, they should see politics as a mechanism for good decision-making by their representatives.

Yet when politicians make dogmatic speeches, it doesn't make young people feel they're being addressed.

Another big factor in this is the voting system. Under our current system, an election is decided by the floating voters in the floating constituencies. If we had a system in which every vote counted, people of every age would see much more reason for voting.

The voting age is also relevant.

Reducing it to 16 is an idea whose time has come. Working 16-yearolds pay tax but they have no say in how this money is spent.

Many young people find old-style two-party politics irrelevant to their lives. But they still have strong opinions on views that affect them. On crime, young people are the victims more often than any other group. They should be able to contribute to decisions taken to tackle crime in their area.

Locally, we in the LibDems are doing our fair share to encourage youth participation. Four out of eighteen councillors on Newhaven Town Council are under 30, and in Lewes we have an 18-year-old town councillor.

In Seaford there are talks to start a young mayor project, giving young people a dedicated budget.

LibDem-run Lewes District Council has held its cabinet meetings in all but one secondary school in the district. The council has, over the last few years, worked hard with the young people of the Junior Management Board for Lewes Railway Land Local Nature Reserve.

Their project has involved the restoration of the former Leighside pond, building a viewing platform, a water conservation campaign and a 15-minute film - aimed at young people, all launched on Saturday.

If young people see they have representatives on local councils, they are more likely to feel their views are being heard and thus participate in the democratic process.

And the message for all parties is that if you embrace young people, you get more voters. In the election in which Jo Swinson became the youngest MP, 50% of young voters said they would be voting LibDem and we have had wins in areas with high student populations such as Sheffield, Leeds and Bristol. If you have young politicians, you'll attract young voters.

Despite the demonisation of young people by the media, most of us work and study hard, pay our bills and make a positive contribution to society. Ignoring or marginalising us will only lead to apathetic adults later in life. Or worse, it will increase the appeal of extremist groups among the more vulnerable.

That must surely be motivation enough to get young people more interested in party politics.