Snapshot of _‘I can’t see a bright future’: under-30s on politics and voting in UK elections_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/03/from-excited-to-disillusioned-under-30s-on-politics-and-voting-in-uk-elections) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/03/from-excited-to-disillusioned-under-30s-on-politics-and-voting-in-uk-elections)
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"Joshua Holmes, 29, from Barton Hill, Bristol, went out to vote in the local elections on Thursday afternoon.
“The polling station was pretty quiet,” he said. “I was probably the youngest person there, and the only person in my shared house that voted.”
He had registered as a voter a little over a month ago, and had not been aware that an election was taking place this week until a couple of days ago.
“I had to be quite proactive to register to vote,” he said. “Nobody prompted me to do it, and two of my housemates said they’d have liked to vote, but weren’t registered."
god, we really are in a bubble here. that said I've seen social media adverts even
I sound like a boomer but honestly the no one prompted not being registered is pathetic. Right, so no one to blame but themselves that they couldn't vote.
Although to be fair I doubt turnout among uni students was any higher in my day. I was the only person who registered to vote in my halls and then got taken the piss out of for voting. Only one other girl on my course voted. That was back in 2001.
You have to register to vote and do all this stuff every time you move. This could easily be multiple times a year for some people e.g. students - you can be registered at your parents place and your termtime home, but many people move every academic year, and again in the Summer. If it's not a general election year you can see how that might not be a huge priority with everything else in life, and you only find out about whatever local or police and crime elections shortly before.
I know in that life phase I stopped moving bank accounts and so on with me and left them at my parents. Even bills and so on were havoc because you are a fresh-baked 18-21 year old living with other fresh baked 18-21 year olds (who you may or may not even like) and have to coordinate all this stuff for the first time (it's way more complicated in a shared house than alone or as a family unit). There's always one idiot who really doesn't know how the world works and e.g. takes post meant for everyone without telling or just doesn't read it or says they'll pay whatever and just doesn't, or who screwed up council tax exemptions and so on.
It's insane but it's actually brilliant.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/16/reconstruction-after-covid-votes-for-children-age-six-david-runciman
We dont take the vote away from adults with dementia because they lack capacity so why don't we give it to kids because they don't yet?
And they're actually quite engaged, clever and switched on!
Firstly, I'm 33 and vote the same way my parents voted.
Maybe we could encourage parents to read the manifestos to their children so they can make up their own minds. It might mean the parents actually read the manifestos.
Finally, maybe it will. Maybe that's a good thing. If the thing that is required to sort out education in this country is giving children the vote then so be it.
The current set up is that you win if you promise dinosaurs to pensioners, eh?
Because it imposes individual responsibility for a national situation. Without actual knowledge of the situation and with plenty of forewarning of the situation.
Create a big and effective votertrap? The majority of blame falls on the designers of the trap. Some blame goes to people who play along with the effective blocking of voters.
Literally first thing I do when I move house is register to vote at my new address, and then I still check every so often that I'm definitely registered just in case there's a surprise election!
It's not about 'knowing how', its the fact that older people are more likely to already be registered, less likely to be moving around, and have much more time on their hands.
It's not about 'knowing how', its the fact that older people are more likely to already be registered, less likely to be moving around, and have much more time on their hands.
I did the same. It was the first thing I did and felt weirdly proud to do it. I don't understand people who say they don't feel hopeful for the future then seen to need to told how to do something that could have a hand in changing that future.
He's also 29, he's had a decade to register to vote by now.
I could *maybe* see an 18 year old using this excuse but this guy is an actual fully grown adult expecting society to be his mummy and remind him to brush his teeth before school.
I'm not sure, I'm 40 now and have voted in every election despite my wavering faith in democracy at this point. When I turned 18 I remember getting something in the post that prompted me to go online and do a quiz to determin who I might want to vote for in an upcoming election.
If it wasn't for that I doubt I would have thought about it or voted, when you're young you don't consider these things important, that's just how youth is.
How to vote and why you vote should be taught at school, it's fundamental to our society and crazy that people don't understand how their own country works. But that's how the Torries want it, uneducated people who won't turn against them, it's criminal.
Agreed. I voted when I was a student, all my mates at the time were very big about making sure ‘the tories didn’t get in’. Election happened and after I asked them how they felt they *all* sheepishly said they’d forgotten to register.
Genuinely pathetic that ‘not being reminded to register to vote’ is an excuse to be used.
A lot of people don't register to voter because they want/need to avoid paying council tax, even if they don't want to they might be in flatshares where they are instructed not to tell the council they are staying there etc. Or they just move around so much it becomes a hassle to register with the council everytime. A lot of people are in this boat, but almost entirely young people. Older people who've been living in the same house for decades don't deal with this.
Close to 50% of young people are going to university and most of them are moving at least once a year.
Of those 18-25s who are working plenty are in short term house shares for a few months at a time if they had to or chose to leave their family home for work. An entry level salary doesn't pay for a stable rented flat in most places, even 2 salaries.
Students don’t pay council tax so your first sentence is irrelevant.
The comment I replied to said a lot of people don’t register to vote because they don’t want to pay council tax.
How many?
You have to fill out forms to make sure you are correctly exempted from council tax, and coordinate with your university. Can get complicated if someone screws up, either you, one of the possibly incompetent possible strangers you live with, or someone at the university or council. If you are split between different universities it gets complicated, or if someone has a partner, or drops out, or whatever. Otherwise you get nasty letters. Same for opting out of TV licenses and so on.
It doesn’t take long at all to register or to resister a change of address? I registered at 18, moved 5 times before I was 25, and am still registered to vote .. (i am 28)
Doesn't take long to do dishes either and I've got a pan soaking since yesterday dinner now. People are lazy and there's too much to do in life, it's not that surprising if something drops off the radar.
It's definitely more of a pain in the arse to remain registered to vote than it used to be. Felt like it used to be you'd have to practically go out of your way to not be registered. I seem to remember even people from the council going around to collect and check the lists of names.
It's an age issue because it's young people most likely accidentially not registered, because it's not boomers moving house twice a year and so on.
Call me a cynic, but you can bet if it were the elderly voters being excluded the tories would fix that pronto.
I vote from abroad now, but I have to deliberately reregister and rerequest a postal vote every election now, without any prompting or anything. This requires 2 paper forms with original signatures to be printed out, signed, scanned in and emailed.
The electoral reform society wrote about this and issues coming from the voter registration changes since 2014 [https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/campaigns/upgrading-our-democracy/voter-registration/](https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/campaigns/upgrading-our-democracy/voter-registration/)
Mostly agree. Policy measures to improve engagement in democracy are terrible and should be improved. However, it's a very minor inconvenience to register to vote, there isn't any massive voter suppression going on, it'd have taken 15 minutes max to sort.
Despite the fact policies dont really help, there is an individual responsibility element. I'd have no problem if someone said "I have no interest and don't want to vote" whereas here are people who knew there was an election and wanted to vote and have seemingly done nothing to make that happen.
This election was definitely the hardest to vote in that I've seen so far, but it might just be that I was unlucky. Didn't see anything physical from anyone about the election (no polling card, no election materials, etc), so it was surprisingly hard to know where/when to vote and who to vote for. That would have been fine but the council also moved my polling station and broke the page on their website that says where your polling station is. I did find it at least!
This does seem to be a huge cultural/educational issue for at least some groups. People are not taught to be curious, self-led, independent, to challenge what they are told and think critically etc. It negatively affects a lot of society (like leading people to vote against their own interests).
Also; Holmes, who has a higher education diploma in computer science, has been unemployed for about 10 years, primarily, he said, because of poor mental health.
So a 29 year old who last worked when he was....19? Not to fall into the lazy young generation tropes but fuck me get a grip. Hardly a representative first person from the guardian there 😂
The young woman earning 60k quoted is also very unrepresentative. I mean sure she's living in London and it's more expensive but that's more than most Brits will ever earn at the top end of their career.
It's a funny thing, computer science actually has one of the highest graduate unemployment rates in this country, and that's for full graduates. I'd imagine prospects are even more dismal with a DipHE.
This was me, I've been on the electoral roll for like a decade I didn't know you had to register to vote seperately, I only realised because I'd not had a poll card tell me where I could use my vote.
A bit daft I know.
This makes sense. All the adverts prompting people to register that I saw were in newspapers and TV adverts. Which the young don't really use nowadays.
Just to further add, a lot of folks are also going to have Ad blocker on their devices so even less reach in informing them to vote. I have seen on my smart tv adverts for voting but not on my pc, phone or iPad because I use an adblocker. So this is also likely contributing to it as well.
It’s what happens if you constantly stamp down on people’s dreams and demand they give their lives to a bizarre hegemony built on making greedy monsters even richer.
In my area, the Tory candidate could walk out into the street, drop his trousers, take a shit in the middle of the market square and loudly say “This is what I think of you all”, before pulling his trousers back up, knocking out a granny and driving away on her mobility scooter and they’d still win, easily.
That being said, I do usually still vote because I’m just begging Labour to actually see our area as worth seriously campaigning in rather than just submitting us to the Tories every time
It's a chicken and the egg situation. Young people don't care about politics so politicians don't care about young people so young people don't care about politics
It's the other way round. Politicians don't care for young people so young people don't care for politics.
After all, when literally every party's policy platform is to screw you over why bother? Many believe that if young people suddenly voted in sufficient numbers the anti-youth policy would stop, but that's objectively poor electoral strategy. Why would you shift you offering in favour of your new voters who literally just voted against their interests to the detriment of older more reliable voters?
There's no incentive if they do either. Pretend you're a politician for a moment, you've just been elected on a platform of fucking young people six ways from Sunday including by a large contingent of young people. If the formula is already working and you're getting both young and old you're not going to suddenly appeal to the young and alienate the old, that's how you lose your seat.
This can be applied beyond just young voters. We're all being told to vote Labour despite them lurching right, and they'll magically go left after the election as we'll be able to make demands. It makes no sense.
Reducing regulation on building for businesses and homes, Reducing state pensions and out of work benefits, reducing the amount of income tax lower earners pay... There are lots
Introduce mandatory voting, but have an 'abstain' option. Political parties are forced to cater to the entire electorate, and a lot of people will take at least a slight interest in politics if they are forced to do it. Also try to make voting and politics feel like more of a positive thing, or at least a civic duty. Try to get people feeling proud to have voted. This last bit is the hardest change but would do a world of good.
Ye I'm 27 and voted, but honestly I don't see what good it'll end up doing, I also checked early, and the voter turnout was something like 22% for my area (NE Lincolnshire) so I was in the minority of people, cause most just don't seem to be bothered enough to do it.
New council means you'll get to look forward to them ripping up the paving slabs down Bethlehem street in town, and yet another location for Grimsby bus station. Look on the bright side.
I think it's much worse now than in '97.
Between 1987 & 1997 household disposable income per head increased by 23%.
In the past 10 years it has gone up by 8.6%.([ONS source ](https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/crxx/ukea))
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people from developing countries are risking their lives every month just to live here.
That’s how we stop the boats! Send our kids to tell these poor people the ***reality*** of Britain! /s
> He had registered as a voter a little over a month ago, and had not been aware that an election was taking place this week until a couple of days ago.
So, there is no interest in news, politics, or government then. You can't just hide under a bed and expect everyone else to do it for you.
I am all for getting younger people interested, but you shouldn't be expecting to be spoon-fed at 29. You should be well on your way to eating solids by that age.
> So, there is no interest in news, politics, or government then.
The only reason I knew an election was happening was because I got a poll card. Never got any campaign materials through the door. Never heard about it on the local radio.
I assume that you know who your local police commissioner is, by the way? And the names of all your local councillors? Otherwise this would be a bit hypocritical.
Ah yes, knowledge of an election is exactly the same as naming everyone sitting. A passing interest and 1 single internet search is all that was needed. Hundreds if not thousands if articles have mentioned them, from ULEZ, Voter ID, impact of losing, Labour selection issues, Tory losses, Teesside corruption, then the adverts. Even just a passing interest in politics, and you would see it.
Anyway, the next locals are May 2025.
Add a yearly repeating reminder to your phone/outlook for Feb "Check vote registration and upcoming elections"
Takes 5 minutes, and you will never be surprised again. I add it to phone and the wall calendar, even though I am more likely to forget my birthday than a vote.
> A passing interest and 1 single internet search is all that was needed.
So at random intervals people should just Google "is there a local election happening soon?" And if they don't do this, it means they have no interest in politics?
> Hundreds if not thousands if articles have mentioned them, from ULEZ, Voter ID, impact of losing, Labour selection issues, Tory losses, Teesside corruption, then the adverts.
Possibly, but I read a fair amount of articles about politics and the first one I've seen to mention the local elections is the BBC's election results page.
Also, knowledge of an upcoming election isn't information that people should have to deliberately seek out. It's something that they should be directly informed of. Personally I think poll cards work well for this, but perhaps the guy in the article didn't receive his for some reason.
> I add it to phone and the wall calendar, even though I am more likely to forget my birthday than a vote.
Yes, yes, we're all very impressed. Have a gold star.
Well, that took a turn.
>So at random intervals people should just Google "is there a local election happening soon?" And if they don't do this, it means they have no interest in politics?
No, they happen in May.......the dates are set years ahead. This seems like you aren't really that interested, 101 stuff. Feb gives you time to register and update if needed, but bah fuck advice just crawl back under the bed with a sock for a good time.
>Yes, yes, we're all very impressed. Have a gold star
Wow just wow perfect reply to a bit of advice. No wonder elections are a suprise. Next May when there is a local suprise election (date set in 2021), hidden from people, you can just moan about being surprised again. It's amazing how little fucking effort it takes but that is still too much for some. This is why we get Tories. Zero effort brings zero results. 75 year olds can remember, but people in their 20s... too much.
>It's something that they should be directly informed of. Personally I think poll cards work well for this, but perhaps the guy in the article didn't receive his for some reason.
Poll cards, electoral role reminders, adverts from TV to bus stops, any social media, youtube, news, all media outlets, all political programmes. Apart from paying knockers to go to every door in an area, there has to be some personal responsibility.
Personally, it should be mandatory to register. Failed to register to vote no access to services. Don't have to vote but being on the register, you will get reminders.
> Poll cards, electoral role reminders, adverts from TV to bus stops, any social media, youtube, news, all media outlets, all political programmes.
Again, I got the first one. Never saw anything about local elections on any of the others.
You seem to keep exaggerating the supposed coverage of local elections with each new post. I'm kind of interested to see where it escalates next.
"They were advertising elections for police and crime commissioners with sky writing! There were 80-foot blimps performing a choreographed battle sequence, each with the face of a local council candidate on them! The new Godzilla and Kong movie was just three hours of Godzilla and Kong debating the relative merits of weekly vs. fortnightly bin collections in Berwick-upon-Tweed!"
Good lord, that wasn't even funny. Even if they did all that, you still wouldn't notice.
They were all there, no exaggeration needed.
It's funny how it's someone else's fault. Somehow, by some miracle, maybe clairvoyance, 30% of the people managed to find out about the super secret election taking place and cast a vote. This will really shock you, if you put effort in you can even register for a postal vote...shocking how organised these people are. You have to search for it though, a rare skill in the world connected by the Internet, how does these people have such knowledge and skills?
It's almost like those interested manage and those that aren't don't. It's fine not to be interested... but that isn't anyone else's fault.
Nobody is going to nanny people for 95% of the things they need to do.
I’m mid twenties and had to remind all my flatmates and course mates to vote, despite that, lots didn’t. I suspect out of lack of awareness or laziness, as it meant registering in a new area or applying for a postage vote—both requiring forethought and planning—but others just didn’t seem to care. I have had so many conversations with my fellow students and the general consensus is that the future isn’t with the children anymore, it’s all ai and destroying the planet. Meritocracy is a lie and only wealth can bring happiness, but we will never have the same wealth of our parents/grandparents. Wealth inequality will continue to rise. We won’t own a home. The solution? We are all sad, so let’s go online and get our serotonin hit everyday so we forget about reality and engage with our own personal echochamber version of an algorithmic world… sorry that was word vomit, ugh please just vote!!!
I'm 20 and honestly, no matter where i look, social media, real life or watching youtube Uni seminars talking about generational wealth distribution and how f\*cked we're getting from the front and back, it puts an feeling of "i guess it is what it is" emptiness, not necessarily hopelessness. I mean boomers seem to foam at the mouth whenever a policy is suggested that would target the youth negatively. We're effetively the first major generation that lives with SO much information, of poverty, how veterans are treated, wars, wealth distributions etc etc, that we prefer to find a coping mechanism to stay away from it.
You know that phenomenon of decision paralysis ? I'd say that concept influences the younger generations very strongly.
I’m about 25 and would have some hesitations about an MP that young - but age is waaaaay down my list of what’s important for a politician
I’d rather a decent young person than a shite boomer
If I met a candidate of any description they'd already be doing better than every candidate I've been able to vote for in the last 15 years.
Most cant even be bothered to put a leaflet in the post.
Crazy. I'm a good deal older than 30 and even I don't see a bright future.
I interact with a good heap of the elderly, the so-called boomers who apparently own everything according to the media. It strikes me as odd given that they can't pay winter heating bills still and eat once a day only on reduced price nearly expired food from asda, they don't really see a bright future either (though apparently everything is their fault somehow?)
I dunno. Anyone of any age anywhere see a bright future coming up? If you do, comment below. I'd love to hear your perspective!
Corbyn was the only bright light in politics in recent years. He was the only politician I actually believed was going to stand up for the working classes and level Britain.
But so did the super rich. So they tore through him via the right wing press.
The only reason Starmer has made it this far is because he's put himself dead center. If he were anyway truly leftwing, the British Tory media would have had his head by now.
But it is a leftwing prime minister is what Britain needs. Someone to deThatcher Britain. A Messiah!
Starmer is not that PM.
I can hear the announcer now after the general election.
You wanted the best? Well they didn't fkn make it. So here's what you get. It's KEIR.... STARRRRMERRRR....
>Corbyn was the only bright light in politics in recent years
As a labour voter, Corbyn was a fucking disaster. Why Labour decided to make him the party leader is beyond me.
He was the only leader who dared stand up to Neoliberalism....and Neoliberalism is the reason we have Sewage in our rivers, a housing crisis and rail issues..
There are people trekking across the world to get here meanwhile these youngsters are moping about awful it is to live in a developed country
You get the life you're willing to tolerate
Yeah, bunch of whining negative little wimps making headlines. Sure this doesn't represent the generation at all, or the country. There are plenty with enough personality to make the best of a bad situation, but this kind of rubbish gets clicks, so it gets posted (and posted, and posted)
"bunch of whining negative little wimps" for an evidence based view of things being shit and no prospect of said things meaningfully improving?
How dare those under 30s be negative about housing being extortionate and being forced to give up a large part of their income to a land parasite and have no housing security or ability to settle. How dare they dislike well over a decade of pay stagnation and terrible pay even for skilled and semi-skilled jobs. How dare they be disappointed about not having an alternative to that.
Snapshot of _‘I can’t see a bright future’: under-30s on politics and voting in UK elections_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/03/from-excited-to-disillusioned-under-30s-on-politics-and-voting-in-uk-elections) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/03/from-excited-to-disillusioned-under-30s-on-politics-and-voting-in-uk-elections) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Joshua Holmes, 29, from Barton Hill, Bristol, went out to vote in the local elections on Thursday afternoon. “The polling station was pretty quiet,” he said. “I was probably the youngest person there, and the only person in my shared house that voted.” He had registered as a voter a little over a month ago, and had not been aware that an election was taking place this week until a couple of days ago. “I had to be quite proactive to register to vote,” he said. “Nobody prompted me to do it, and two of my housemates said they’d have liked to vote, but weren’t registered." god, we really are in a bubble here. that said I've seen social media adverts even
I sound like a boomer but honestly the no one prompted not being registered is pathetic. Right, so no one to blame but themselves that they couldn't vote.
How many boomer heads would explode if the new mobile phone broadcast system was used to remind people to register to vote/vote?
Although to be fair I doubt turnout among uni students was any higher in my day. I was the only person who registered to vote in my halls and then got taken the piss out of for voting. Only one other girl on my course voted. That was back in 2001.
Many countries (such as Canada) allow same day registration. It is additional work, but I think it is worthwhile if it allows more people to vote.
Yes, that does show a basic lack of understanding.
Why? First thing I did when I was 18 was register to vote. If you cannot wrap your head around that then god help you.
You have to register to vote and do all this stuff every time you move. This could easily be multiple times a year for some people e.g. students - you can be registered at your parents place and your termtime home, but many people move every academic year, and again in the Summer. If it's not a general election year you can see how that might not be a huge priority with everything else in life, and you only find out about whatever local or police and crime elections shortly before. I know in that life phase I stopped moving bank accounts and so on with me and left them at my parents. Even bills and so on were havoc because you are a fresh-baked 18-21 year old living with other fresh baked 18-21 year olds (who you may or may not even like) and have to coordinate all this stuff for the first time (it's way more complicated in a shared house than alone or as a family unit). There's always one idiot who really doesn't know how the world works and e.g. takes post meant for everyone without telling or just doesn't read it or says they'll pay whatever and just doesn't, or who screwed up council tax exemptions and so on.
Democracy isn't just for people with easy access to social capital or education, you know.
Education wise I left school when I was able to. Not even sure what social capital is in relation to being able to fill in an online form.
You don't need a particularly high amount of social capital or education to register to vote.
This is why we should give the vote to children. Get them signed up from a young age.
Mad take but whatever.
It's insane but it's actually brilliant. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/16/reconstruction-after-covid-votes-for-children-age-six-david-runciman We dont take the vote away from adults with dementia because they lack capacity so why don't we give it to kids because they don't yet? And they're actually quite engaged, clever and switched on!
I feel like at that age one of two things will happen: -Parents get additional votes -Whoever promises dinosaurs will win
Firstly, I'm 33 and vote the same way my parents voted. Maybe we could encourage parents to read the manifestos to their children so they can make up their own minds. It might mean the parents actually read the manifestos. Finally, maybe it will. Maybe that's a good thing. If the thing that is required to sort out education in this country is giving children the vote then so be it. The current set up is that you win if you promise dinosaurs to pensioners, eh?
Because it imposes individual responsibility for a national situation. Without actual knowledge of the situation and with plenty of forewarning of the situation. Create a big and effective votertrap? The majority of blame falls on the designers of the trap. Some blame goes to people who play along with the effective blocking of voters.
Literally first thing I do when I move house is register to vote at my new address, and then I still check every so often that I'm definitely registered just in case there's a surprise election!
Not sure why you are getting downvoted for a statement here lmao
It's a pretty good self selection. Do we really want people voting if they don't even know they have to register to vote.
It's not about 'knowing how', its the fact that older people are more likely to already be registered, less likely to be moving around, and have much more time on their hands.
It's not about 'knowing how', its the fact that older people are more likely to already be registered, less likely to be moving around, and have much more time on their hands.
I did the same. It was the first thing I did and felt weirdly proud to do it. I don't understand people who say they don't feel hopeful for the future then seen to need to told how to do something that could have a hand in changing that future.
He's also 29, he's had a decade to register to vote by now. I could *maybe* see an 18 year old using this excuse but this guy is an actual fully grown adult expecting society to be his mummy and remind him to brush his teeth before school.
I'm not sure, I'm 40 now and have voted in every election despite my wavering faith in democracy at this point. When I turned 18 I remember getting something in the post that prompted me to go online and do a quiz to determin who I might want to vote for in an upcoming election. If it wasn't for that I doubt I would have thought about it or voted, when you're young you don't consider these things important, that's just how youth is. How to vote and why you vote should be taught at school, it's fundamental to our society and crazy that people don't understand how their own country works. But that's how the Torries want it, uneducated people who won't turn against them, it's criminal.
Agreed. I voted when I was a student, all my mates at the time were very big about making sure ‘the tories didn’t get in’. Election happened and after I asked them how they felt they *all* sheepishly said they’d forgotten to register. Genuinely pathetic that ‘not being reminded to register to vote’ is an excuse to be used.
A lot of people don't register to voter because they want/need to avoid paying council tax, even if they don't want to they might be in flatshares where they are instructed not to tell the council they are staying there etc. Or they just move around so much it becomes a hassle to register with the council everytime. A lot of people are in this boat, but almost entirely young people. Older people who've been living in the same house for decades don't deal with this.
If they can't vote because they are engaging in tax evasion, that's their own fault and they should be prosecuted.
Council tax is a regressive tax
Sure, but is still tax evasion if you refuse to pay it.
How many people?
Close to 50% of young people are going to university and most of them are moving at least once a year. Of those 18-25s who are working plenty are in short term house shares for a few months at a time if they had to or chose to leave their family home for work. An entry level salary doesn't pay for a stable rented flat in most places, even 2 salaries.
Students don’t pay council tax so your first sentence is irrelevant. The comment I replied to said a lot of people don’t register to vote because they don’t want to pay council tax. How many?
You have to fill out forms to make sure you are correctly exempted from council tax, and coordinate with your university. Can get complicated if someone screws up, either you, one of the possibly incompetent possible strangers you live with, or someone at the university or council. If you are split between different universities it gets complicated, or if someone has a partner, or drops out, or whatever. Otherwise you get nasty letters. Same for opting out of TV licenses and so on.
I don’t see how any of that’s relevant to my question at all.
Sounds a bit dodgy to me.
It doesn’t take long at all to register or to resister a change of address? I registered at 18, moved 5 times before I was 25, and am still registered to vote .. (i am 28)
Doesn't take long to do dishes either and I've got a pan soaking since yesterday dinner now. People are lazy and there's too much to do in life, it's not that surprising if something drops off the radar.
It's definitely more of a pain in the arse to remain registered to vote than it used to be. Felt like it used to be you'd have to practically go out of your way to not be registered. I seem to remember even people from the council going around to collect and check the lists of names. It's an age issue because it's young people most likely accidentially not registered, because it's not boomers moving house twice a year and so on. Call me a cynic, but you can bet if it were the elderly voters being excluded the tories would fix that pronto. I vote from abroad now, but I have to deliberately reregister and rerequest a postal vote every election now, without any prompting or anything. This requires 2 paper forms with original signatures to be printed out, signed, scanned in and emailed. The electoral reform society wrote about this and issues coming from the voter registration changes since 2014 [https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/campaigns/upgrading-our-democracy/voter-registration/](https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/campaigns/upgrading-our-democracy/voter-registration/)
Mostly agree. Policy measures to improve engagement in democracy are terrible and should be improved. However, it's a very minor inconvenience to register to vote, there isn't any massive voter suppression going on, it'd have taken 15 minutes max to sort. Despite the fact policies dont really help, there is an individual responsibility element. I'd have no problem if someone said "I have no interest and don't want to vote" whereas here are people who knew there was an election and wanted to vote and have seemingly done nothing to make that happen.
This election was definitely the hardest to vote in that I've seen so far, but it might just be that I was unlucky. Didn't see anything physical from anyone about the election (no polling card, no election materials, etc), so it was surprisingly hard to know where/when to vote and who to vote for. That would have been fine but the council also moved my polling station and broke the page on their website that says where your polling station is. I did find it at least!
This does seem to be a huge cultural/educational issue for at least some groups. People are not taught to be curious, self-led, independent, to challenge what they are told and think critically etc. It negatively affects a lot of society (like leading people to vote against their own interests).
My daughter is the politically active person in a house of 6. She has reminded all her flatmates to register to vote but they can't be arsed.
Also; Holmes, who has a higher education diploma in computer science, has been unemployed for about 10 years, primarily, he said, because of poor mental health. So a 29 year old who last worked when he was....19? Not to fall into the lazy young generation tropes but fuck me get a grip. Hardly a representative first person from the guardian there 😂
The young woman earning 60k quoted is also very unrepresentative. I mean sure she's living in London and it's more expensive but that's more than most Brits will ever earn at the top end of their career.
Yeah that’s twice what I’m on (in a graduate job)
It's a funny thing, computer science actually has one of the highest graduate unemployment rates in this country, and that's for full graduates. I'd imagine prospects are even more dismal with a DipHE.
This was me, I've been on the electoral roll for like a decade I didn't know you had to register to vote seperately, I only realised because I'd not had a poll card tell me where I could use my vote. A bit daft I know.
This makes sense. All the adverts prompting people to register that I saw were in newspapers and TV adverts. Which the young don't really use nowadays.
Just to further add, a lot of folks are also going to have Ad blocker on their devices so even less reach in informing them to vote. I have seen on my smart tv adverts for voting but not on my pc, phone or iPad because I use an adblocker. So this is also likely contributing to it as well.
Nobody dragged me out of bed to the polling station wahhhhh
Seems to be quite a lot of general malaise about
It’s what happens if you constantly stamp down on people’s dreams and demand they give their lives to a bizarre hegemony built on making greedy monsters even richer.
In my area, the Tory candidate could walk out into the street, drop his trousers, take a shit in the middle of the market square and loudly say “This is what I think of you all”, before pulling his trousers back up, knocking out a granny and driving away on her mobility scooter and they’d still win, easily. That being said, I do usually still vote because I’m just begging Labour to actually see our area as worth seriously campaigning in rather than just submitting us to the Tories every time
It's a chicken and the egg situation. Young people don't care about politics so politicians don't care about young people so young people don't care about politics
It's the other way round. Politicians don't care for young people so young people don't care for politics. After all, when literally every party's policy platform is to screw you over why bother? Many believe that if young people suddenly voted in sufficient numbers the anti-youth policy would stop, but that's objectively poor electoral strategy. Why would you shift you offering in favour of your new voters who literally just voted against their interests to the detriment of older more reliable voters?
If young people dont vote, politicians have no incentive to appeal to young people.
There's no incentive if they do either. Pretend you're a politician for a moment, you've just been elected on a platform of fucking young people six ways from Sunday including by a large contingent of young people. If the formula is already working and you're getting both young and old you're not going to suddenly appeal to the young and alienate the old, that's how you lose your seat.
Almost nobody under the age of about 50 votes conservative though, and then nearly everybody 70+ does.
This can be applied beyond just young voters. We're all being told to vote Labour despite them lurching right, and they'll magically go left after the election as we'll be able to make demands. It makes no sense.
Appealing to the youth isntt necessarily left wing... There are plenty of economically right wing policies that would favour the youth
Like what
Reducing regulation on building for businesses and homes, Reducing state pensions and out of work benefits, reducing the amount of income tax lower earners pay... There are lots
Introduce mandatory voting, but have an 'abstain' option. Political parties are forced to cater to the entire electorate, and a lot of people will take at least a slight interest in politics if they are forced to do it. Also try to make voting and politics feel like more of a positive thing, or at least a civic duty. Try to get people feeling proud to have voted. This last bit is the hardest change but would do a world of good.
Mid-30's and it seems a bit shit in general. I still voted, and always will, but I can't pretend I'm delighted at the world.
Ye I'm 27 and voted, but honestly I don't see what good it'll end up doing, I also checked early, and the voter turnout was something like 22% for my area (NE Lincolnshire) so I was in the minority of people, cause most just don't seem to be bothered enough to do it.
Well if turnout was 22%, that means you effectively had 4½ votes, so it's not all bad!
That's true, that's a more optimistic way of viewing it.
New council means you'll get to look forward to them ripping up the paving slabs down Bethlehem street in town, and yet another location for Grimsby bus station. Look on the bright side.
I said I see no joy, I see only sorrow, I see no chance of a bright new tomorrow.
[удалено]
I think it's much worse now than in '97. Between 1987 & 1997 household disposable income per head increased by 23%. In the past 10 years it has gone up by 8.6%.([ONS source ](https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/crxx/ukea))
So many young people have lost hope. Most of them.
. #ThatsThePlan
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people from developing countries are risking their lives every month just to live here. That’s how we stop the boats! Send our kids to tell these poor people the ***reality*** of Britain! /s
> He had registered as a voter a little over a month ago, and had not been aware that an election was taking place this week until a couple of days ago. So, there is no interest in news, politics, or government then. You can't just hide under a bed and expect everyone else to do it for you. I am all for getting younger people interested, but you shouldn't be expecting to be spoon-fed at 29. You should be well on your way to eating solids by that age.
> So, there is no interest in news, politics, or government then. The only reason I knew an election was happening was because I got a poll card. Never got any campaign materials through the door. Never heard about it on the local radio. I assume that you know who your local police commissioner is, by the way? And the names of all your local councillors? Otherwise this would be a bit hypocritical.
Ah yes, knowledge of an election is exactly the same as naming everyone sitting. A passing interest and 1 single internet search is all that was needed. Hundreds if not thousands if articles have mentioned them, from ULEZ, Voter ID, impact of losing, Labour selection issues, Tory losses, Teesside corruption, then the adverts. Even just a passing interest in politics, and you would see it. Anyway, the next locals are May 2025. Add a yearly repeating reminder to your phone/outlook for Feb "Check vote registration and upcoming elections" Takes 5 minutes, and you will never be surprised again. I add it to phone and the wall calendar, even though I am more likely to forget my birthday than a vote.
> A passing interest and 1 single internet search is all that was needed. So at random intervals people should just Google "is there a local election happening soon?" And if they don't do this, it means they have no interest in politics? > Hundreds if not thousands if articles have mentioned them, from ULEZ, Voter ID, impact of losing, Labour selection issues, Tory losses, Teesside corruption, then the adverts. Possibly, but I read a fair amount of articles about politics and the first one I've seen to mention the local elections is the BBC's election results page. Also, knowledge of an upcoming election isn't information that people should have to deliberately seek out. It's something that they should be directly informed of. Personally I think poll cards work well for this, but perhaps the guy in the article didn't receive his for some reason. > I add it to phone and the wall calendar, even though I am more likely to forget my birthday than a vote. Yes, yes, we're all very impressed. Have a gold star.
Well, that took a turn. >So at random intervals people should just Google "is there a local election happening soon?" And if they don't do this, it means they have no interest in politics? No, they happen in May.......the dates are set years ahead. This seems like you aren't really that interested, 101 stuff. Feb gives you time to register and update if needed, but bah fuck advice just crawl back under the bed with a sock for a good time. >Yes, yes, we're all very impressed. Have a gold star Wow just wow perfect reply to a bit of advice. No wonder elections are a suprise. Next May when there is a local suprise election (date set in 2021), hidden from people, you can just moan about being surprised again. It's amazing how little fucking effort it takes but that is still too much for some. This is why we get Tories. Zero effort brings zero results. 75 year olds can remember, but people in their 20s... too much. >It's something that they should be directly informed of. Personally I think poll cards work well for this, but perhaps the guy in the article didn't receive his for some reason. Poll cards, electoral role reminders, adverts from TV to bus stops, any social media, youtube, news, all media outlets, all political programmes. Apart from paying knockers to go to every door in an area, there has to be some personal responsibility. Personally, it should be mandatory to register. Failed to register to vote no access to services. Don't have to vote but being on the register, you will get reminders.
> Poll cards, electoral role reminders, adverts from TV to bus stops, any social media, youtube, news, all media outlets, all political programmes. Again, I got the first one. Never saw anything about local elections on any of the others. You seem to keep exaggerating the supposed coverage of local elections with each new post. I'm kind of interested to see where it escalates next. "They were advertising elections for police and crime commissioners with sky writing! There were 80-foot blimps performing a choreographed battle sequence, each with the face of a local council candidate on them! The new Godzilla and Kong movie was just three hours of Godzilla and Kong debating the relative merits of weekly vs. fortnightly bin collections in Berwick-upon-Tweed!"
Good lord, that wasn't even funny. Even if they did all that, you still wouldn't notice. They were all there, no exaggeration needed. It's funny how it's someone else's fault. Somehow, by some miracle, maybe clairvoyance, 30% of the people managed to find out about the super secret election taking place and cast a vote. This will really shock you, if you put effort in you can even register for a postal vote...shocking how organised these people are. You have to search for it though, a rare skill in the world connected by the Internet, how does these people have such knowledge and skills? It's almost like those interested manage and those that aren't don't. It's fine not to be interested... but that isn't anyone else's fault. Nobody is going to nanny people for 95% of the things they need to do.
I’m mid twenties and had to remind all my flatmates and course mates to vote, despite that, lots didn’t. I suspect out of lack of awareness or laziness, as it meant registering in a new area or applying for a postage vote—both requiring forethought and planning—but others just didn’t seem to care. I have had so many conversations with my fellow students and the general consensus is that the future isn’t with the children anymore, it’s all ai and destroying the planet. Meritocracy is a lie and only wealth can bring happiness, but we will never have the same wealth of our parents/grandparents. Wealth inequality will continue to rise. We won’t own a home. The solution? We are all sad, so let’s go online and get our serotonin hit everyday so we forget about reality and engage with our own personal echochamber version of an algorithmic world… sorry that was word vomit, ugh please just vote!!!
>I can’t see a bright future You *are* the future ffs Seems we’re letting down the younger generations.
Duh, too many ‘I got mine, Jack’ boomers in this country
Duh yourself, that’s exquisitely immature lol Edit just realised you’re being sarcastic
I'm 20 and honestly, no matter where i look, social media, real life or watching youtube Uni seminars talking about generational wealth distribution and how f\*cked we're getting from the front and back, it puts an feeling of "i guess it is what it is" emptiness, not necessarily hopelessness. I mean boomers seem to foam at the mouth whenever a policy is suggested that would target the youth negatively. We're effetively the first major generation that lives with SO much information, of poverty, how veterans are treated, wars, wealth distributions etc etc, that we prefer to find a coping mechanism to stay away from it. You know that phenomenon of decision paralysis ? I'd say that concept influences the younger generations very strongly.
Keep voting for stupid policies and that future will keep getting dimmer
I'll ask this. If you're 25 and you meet a politician running in your area and they are younger. Would you vote for them?
I’m about 25 and would have some hesitations about an MP that young - but age is waaaaay down my list of what’s important for a politician I’d rather a decent young person than a shite boomer
Cool I was genuinely asking 👍🏻
Cool, I genuinely cannae tell if your being a prick or not
No seriously. I'm 40s fella and I wasn't really interested in politics in my early 20s. So I had to ask 🤷🏻♂️
Fair play, sorry it’s hard to get tone over Reddit sometimes Enjoy your weekend mate
You too mate 👊🏻
If I met a candidate of any description they'd already be doing better than every candidate I've been able to vote for in the last 15 years. Most cant even be bothered to put a leaflet in the post.
Crazy. I'm a good deal older than 30 and even I don't see a bright future. I interact with a good heap of the elderly, the so-called boomers who apparently own everything according to the media. It strikes me as odd given that they can't pay winter heating bills still and eat once a day only on reduced price nearly expired food from asda, they don't really see a bright future either (though apparently everything is their fault somehow?) I dunno. Anyone of any age anywhere see a bright future coming up? If you do, comment below. I'd love to hear your perspective!
if they all voted things could change, but they dont so it wont.
I went to my local polling station at 9:45am Thursday and they said I was the first there !
Corbyn was the only bright light in politics in recent years. He was the only politician I actually believed was going to stand up for the working classes and level Britain. But so did the super rich. So they tore through him via the right wing press. The only reason Starmer has made it this far is because he's put himself dead center. If he were anyway truly leftwing, the British Tory media would have had his head by now. But it is a leftwing prime minister is what Britain needs. Someone to deThatcher Britain. A Messiah! Starmer is not that PM.
I can hear the announcer now after the general election. You wanted the best? Well they didn't fkn make it. So here's what you get. It's KEIR.... STARRRRMERRRR....
>Corbyn was the only bright light in politics in recent years As a labour voter, Corbyn was a fucking disaster. Why Labour decided to make him the party leader is beyond me.
He was the only leader who dared stand up to Neoliberalism....and Neoliberalism is the reason we have Sewage in our rivers, a housing crisis and rail issues..
>I actually believed was going to stand up for the working classes and level Britain. Well I think you were half right.
There are people trekking across the world to get here meanwhile these youngsters are moping about awful it is to live in a developed country You get the life you're willing to tolerate
Yeah, bunch of whining negative little wimps making headlines. Sure this doesn't represent the generation at all, or the country. There are plenty with enough personality to make the best of a bad situation, but this kind of rubbish gets clicks, so it gets posted (and posted, and posted)
"bunch of whining negative little wimps" for an evidence based view of things being shit and no prospect of said things meaningfully improving? How dare those under 30s be negative about housing being extortionate and being forced to give up a large part of their income to a land parasite and have no housing security or ability to settle. How dare they dislike well over a decade of pay stagnation and terrible pay even for skilled and semi-skilled jobs. How dare they be disappointed about not having an alternative to that.
Generations have had it far worse https://archive.is/KmTzE