Are Labour Due Another ‘Youthquake’?
How are the youth forecast ahead of the next election as they are seemingly becoming more and more disenchanted with the current parties and their tiring leaders?
The assumption remains that the left is dominated by young people, recollecting Jeremy Corbyn and his hold on the youth vote. Someone that for a time listened to young people but still inspired a few with some socialist ideals, a figure that was willing to differentiate himself from the bulk of the labour party. However under a new more centre left party it seems this hope for the left wing vote hangs on a youthful hatred of the conservatives who also are unable to get a full grasp on the young voters. Parties need to find new ways to attract young people to vote. It seems now more than before short term factors play more of a part in how young people engage in politics and with key concerns about Israel and Palestine, The NHS, The Cost of living crisis amongst other topics that are directly affecting young people. Parties, especially labour that often rely on this demographic need to be seen outwardly tackling these issues to avoid voter apathy or dislike and can’t rely on a personality based campaign anymore.
“Youthquake”, defined as “a significant cultural, political or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people”, was chosen as the Oxford Dictionaries’ 2017 word of the year.” The impact of how young people vote has always been significant, but in 2017 the youth support for Jeremy Corbyn highlighted a need for short term voting factors to be the centre of attention for elections. His charm faded and didn’t provide the results he needed to win either election, it turns out this 2017 Youthquake didn’t have the impact that has been suggested but labour still did well. The youth vote turnout could’ve been due to Jeremy Corbyn but can labour rely on personality and not strong youth oriented policies again? The answer from young people seems to be no, Keir Starmer isn’t the popular choice with young people and labour continues to be unable to differentiate itself completely from the conservative party
How does the conservative approach differ from labour? Traditionally they have always relied on an older population for their votes but this isn’t continuously secure and reliable, and they’re losing support from the young people they do have. In 2023 of “131 of their members surveyed, almost seven in ten (67 per cent) are either “unsatisfied” or “very unsatisfied” with the state of the Conservative party.” With young voters being such a key part of any election, young and with less long term factors effecting them than ever before political parties need to be doing more to attract them, The current affairs affecting young people no longer have class bias, its becoming a far reaching issue that nobody will be able to afford a house, job security or a good salary. Rise of the middle class youth, but also a generation that has grown up during austerity, the financial crash, the Covid pandemic are tired of the conservative approach and need a change which labour should be providing.
It seems that labour need to differentiate themselves from the conservative party a considerable amount to be able to get the youth approach at the next election, but there seems to be little likelihood of this happening. The conflation of the two parties could be leading to future voter apathy. Having a hold on the youth vote doesn’t seem like a priority for either side and this could be why they aren’t voting. “The 2019 General Election saw a turnout of around 47% amongst voters aged 18-24, a decrease of 7% when compared to 2017.”(Mashford, 2020). The trend will continue to decrease as the demographic continues to believe nobody is looking out for them, the response to current affairs and how they are to be targeted, is key. The rising middle classes don’t have long term party affiliation effecting them anymore so short term factors like policy surrounding climate change will have a clearer effect. Even in current polls The Green Party are having increasing success, “Support for the Greens is higher among younger people, reaching 14% among 18-24 year olds and 12% among 25-29 year olds. This is significantly above their 2019 general election tally” (Smith, 2024). The wider implication of this will only been seen once the next general election has been held.
Reference list
Bradley , J. (2020). Keir Starmer .
Childs, S. (2022). Can Labour Win Again with Young People Disillusioned? [online] Rolling Stone UK. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/politics/features/can-labour-win-again-with-young-people-disillusioned-13129/.
Dazed (2023). Who are young people meant to vote for now? [online] Dazed. Available at: https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/60104/1/who-are-young-people-meant-to-vote-for-now-labour-keir-starmer.
Doherty , C. (2023). Young Conservatives Feel Ignored By Their Party. [online] Politics Home. Available at: https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/blue-beyond-young-conservative-polling-voters-left-behind.
Mashford, S. (2020). Youth turnout – How does the UK compare to other European nations? [online] 89 Initiative | The first European think-do tank. Available at: https://89initiative.com/youth-turnout-uk-europe/.
says, A.M. (2018). Did young voters turn out in droves for Corbyn? The myth of the 2017 youthquake election. [online] British Politics and Policy at LSE. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-myth-of-the-2017-youthquake-election/.
Smith, M. (2024). How is Britain voting as we enter the 2024 election year? | YouGov. [online] yougov.co.uk. Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/48476-how-is-britain-voting-as-we-enter-the-2024-election-year.
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The author makes an interesting point in saying that short term factors play more of a part in how young people engage in politics, particularly when it is topics that are directly affecting them. The idea that governments serve older people because they’re more likely to vote is a prevalent issue. The author then makes a valid point in questioning whether parties issues with attracting younger voters is due to their lack of strong youth oriented policies. The author also successfully highlights the fact that the age cleavage in voting behaviors in the UK has appeared to crosscut the traditional voting patterns in the UK, displaying a shift in what younger voters value when making a voting choice. Recent evidence appears to display that it is age, not social class as it was historically, that is the biggest demographic division in Britain’s electoral politics. The author makes a thought-provoking point in highlighting that the current affairs which most affect young people in the UK nowadays no longer have a class bias, but rather issues that young people face appear to affect everyone regardless of class, in that nobody will be able to afford a house, job security or a good salary.
Bruter (2017) argues that there is often a “vicious circle” with regards to youth political participation where the main political parties are often not interested in attracting the youth vote, arguing that it makes more sense for them to address the concerns of old voters rather than younger ones, who they consider not to vote in sufficient numbers therefore young people feel disenfranchised with the parties and as a result they vote less.
Research has displayed that young people often feel alienated by the political system and as a result don’t vote. (Henn et al., 2005).
The author therefore makes a valid point in arguing that parties, especially Labour who often rely on the younger age group need to be seen addressing the issues that are important to young people in order to encourage young people to vote. Low levels of political participation among British youth is a problem, as when low voter turnout rates are unequally distributed among members of the electorate, election results may not be representative of UK society.
The author makes an interesting point in saying that short term factors play more of a part in how young people engage in politics, particularly when it is topics that are directly affecting them. The idea that governments serve older people because they’re more likely to vote is a prevalent issue. The author then makes a valid point in questioning whether parties issues with attracting younger voters is due to their lack of strong youth oriented policies. The author also successfully highlights the fact that the age cleavage in voting behaviors in the UK has appeared to crosscut the traditional voting patterns in the UK, displaying a shift in what younger voters value when making a voting choice. Recent evidence appears to display that it is age, not social class as it was historically, that is the biggest demographic division in Britain’s electoral politics. The author makes a thought-provoking point in highlighting that the current affairs which most affect young people in the UK nowadays no longer have a class bias, but rather issues that young people face appear to affect everyone regardless of class, in that nobody will be able to afford a house, job security or a good salary.
Bruter (2017) argues that there is often a “vicious circle” with regards to youth political participation where the main political parties are often not interested in attracting the youth vote, arguing that it makes more sense for them to address the concerns of old voters rather than younger ones, who they consider not to vote in sufficient numbers therefore young people feel disenfranchised with the parties and as a result they vote less.
Research has displayed that young people often feel alienated by the political system and as a result don’t vote. (Henn et al., 2005).
The author therefore makes a valid point in arguing that parties, especially Labour who often rely on the younger age group need to be seen addressing the issues that are important to young people in order to encourage young people to vote. Low levels of political participation among British youth is a problem, as when low voter turnout rates are unequally distributed among members of the electorate, election results may not be representative of UK society.
The author highlights that Jeremy Corbyn rallied younger voters as he was relatable and addressed issues that young people cared about while the rest of the party seemed to be hesitant to engage with left-wing policy, the author mentions that a personality campaign is no longer effective to gain votes. The author discusses the lack of expected ‘Youthquake’ in 2017 and the need for one to happen soon in order for Labour to retain their relevance amongst young voters. One reason for the voting apathy among the youth is the increasingly similar policy approaches by the Conservatives and Labour, the author finishes the article by analysing the increasing role of the Green party.
I think this is an interesting topic to touch on, especially with another general election looming. The author highlights how age cleavages in voting behaviours in the UK has appeared to crosscut traditional voting patterns. Touching on Corbyn’s campaign in 2019, this engaged with young people and the more left-wing policies within the party. I think it would have been interesting if the blog touched more on the potential for a new approach for the labour party. This is because despite Corbyn’s popularity amongst the youth, the labour party won the lowest number of seats in party history since 1935. Suggesting that the approach to increasing participation amongst the youth generations could have been different, in order to gain more support. The author suggests that labour needs to differentiate themselves from the conservative party to gain the youth vote in the next election, this is due to the central-left nature of Kier Starmer. Labour needs to be able to achieve this while also engaging with the rising middle class voters. This is because they have no long-term party affiliation, therefore if the labour party capitalise on this and establish more of a middle ground between the two, this may increase their success.
I found your blog post really thought-provoking. It was interesting to read discussions on the evolving dynamics of youth engagement in politics. The analysis of how traditional parties like Labour and the Conservatives are grappling with attracting young voters is very good.
I particularly enjoyed the call for parties to move beyond personality-based campaigns and focus more on youth-oriented policies. The mention of short-term factors like climate change policy as potential game-changers is crucial in understanding the shifting landscape of political engagement among the youth.
However, while the post highlights the challenges facing both Labour and the Conservatives in winning over young voters, it could delve deeper into specific policy proposals or innovative approaches that could resonate with this demographic. Offering actual solutions or examples of successful strategies employed by other parties or in other countries could enrich the discussion further.
Overall, I enjoyed reading your insights and discussions on how political parties can adapt to meet the evolving needs and priorities of young voters.
This blog post is an extremely enticing piece on a very interesting topic in politics in recent years. The piece highlights the decreasing belief of youth in political leaders and parties in today’s society. I found the point of today’s youth being more interested in basing their vote off short-term issues rather than longer-term issues an extremely thought-provoking statement and how the author addresses the need for parties to adapt to this perspective and how real effort needs to be made to provoke today’s youth to vote for specific parties. This piece also explains the struggles of labour to really appeal to the youth demographic and how the party needs to adapt widely different approaches from the conservatives to find real success in the next election.
Overall, this is an extremely well-researched article, and the piece discusses the issues at hand for today’s political parties very well. I think the post could however discuss in more detail just how the Labour Party could appeal further to the younger voting demographic.
This blog post focuses on an incredibly interesting topic, exploring how age influences voting behaviour, which is particularly relevant and timely with a UK general election due within the next year. It does a particularly good job of considering how the choices made by Labour and the Conservatives influence young people and their opinions on each party. It potentially could have been improved by considering more of the potential solutions parties could implement to gain the youth vote, or by better exploring precisely how the Conservatives and Labour have become more similar over time, such as Labour’s slide towards the political right (as highlighted by Patrick Diamond in a chapter of The Resistible Corrosion of Europe’s Center-Left After 2008).
The author begins the blog post by engaging in historical events which previously would have influenced voting behaviour from the youth population, using Jeremy Corbyn as the main figure of the influence. As traditionally, youths are more left leaning and will give prominence to ongoing issues instead of long-term factors, highlighting the ongoing need for parties to change their campaigns to gain the youth vote. The author goes on to use examples like Israel and Palestine and the ongoing cost of living crisis. Allowing for the reader to link political discourse to real life events, making it easier to comprehend the comprehensive literature. The author goes on to give great analysis of party strategies, while pitting the two current parties against each other. Using examples to present the argument makes the point more interesting and personal for the reader. As I personally, would agree that labour now mirrors a more Conservative party, than the traditional Labour once seen under Corbyn. Which would have received more of the youth vote. The author of the blog post goes on to finally make a compelling argument that youth are turning to more radical or alternative parties as they no longer feel affiliation to the traditional parties. Author goes on to make use of more real-life examples to add depth to their argument. Addressing how the Green Party are seeing more votes from the youthful population, indicating a shift in traditional party politics. Overall, presenting a compelling argument which is becoming more relevant with the upcoming election.
This blog post was a really insightful and interesting topic to consider especially as youth participation and interest in politics has risen due to the impact of social media. Comparing the successes and failures of both the Labour Party and Conservatives trying to attract the youth vote is intriguing as it highlights the different approaches in terms of policy to try and garner more votes and how party leadership, particularly in the case of Labour with Jeremy Corbyn’s and Keir Starmer’s, in which the youth showcased much more support to Corbyn than Starmer, largely due to Corbyn’s having youth oriented proposed policy such as scrapping university tuition fees leading to the ‘youthquake’. Pointing out how the current deficit in youth centred campaign promises by the conservatives and Labour is linked to young people having a low voter turnout during elections and the elderly having a high voter turnout, resulting in policy that appeals to them.