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Independents and ‘others’ attract under-18s / Conservatives are largest party / Greens do particularly well with young people
Young people taking part in the Hansard Society Y Vote Mock Elections for the European Parliament returned fewer MEPs for the main political parties than their adult counterparts in the real Euro elections. All major parties saw a drop in support; the Conservative Party was the largest party with 17 seats and the Green Party was the only one that performed better in the mock elections. However, independents and parties created by pupils themselves were the big winners.
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Local candidates for the forthcoming European elections were given the chance to make their case to young voters during an event at City College Plymouth. The Y Vote Mock Election event allowed young people the opportunity to grill MEPs on a wide range of subjects affecting them.
Organised by Sarah Russell of Twofour media group, as part of her 'Knowing Me Knowing Urup' campaign, the five South West candidates battled it out for the students' attention and votes. The candidates were Graham Watson MEP (Liberal Democrats), Trevor Coleman MEP (UKIP), Ricky Knight (Greens), Nicola Guagliardo (Your Decision) and Neil Parish (Conservatives). The Green Party candidate came out with the most votes, but the result was extremely close with just three votes seperating four parties.
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The Hansard Society's recent ‘Audit of Political Engagement 6', shows that just 24% of people in the 18-24 age group say they are ‘certain to vote' at a general election compared to 57% of over-25s and 79% of over 75s, illustrating the massive gulf in political clout between the grey lobby and the young. And this is not because young people do not think voting matters - 83% think it is ‘essential' or ‘important' to vote in an election in order to be a good citizen - but it highlights a significant gap between intention and action.
Perhaps surprisingly, joining a political party and campaigning are more likely to be seen as important by the younger population than their elders. 45% of 18-24 year olds believe joining a political party is ‘important' in order to be a good citizen, compared to 34% of the public as a whole. However, just 1% of 18-24 year olds have actually paid a membership fee or made a donation to a party in the past three years - again underlining the problem of putting theory into practice.
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The Hansard Society and the House of Lords have launched a new competition for young people aged 11 to 16 to express how they feel about media portrayals of their generation: Raw Deal or Truth Told? Young People in the Media.
Entrants are being asked to look at issues such as portrayals of youth culture in television programmes, negative coverage in print media and questions like should celebrities, sports stars or musicians be role models? This follows on from the success of 2008’s What a Waste! competition.
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The next forum will be about transport and HeadsUp users will be discussing sustainable transport, how the economy will affect travel, a third runway at Heathrow and safety of public transport - amongst other issues around transport. The forum runs from 20 April - 8 May.
Visit HeadsUp now!
HeadsUp is an online forum for debate about the key political issues where young people and politicians can come together to listen and learn from one another. The forums give under 18's a unique chance to get their voices heard by decision-makers and feed into policies that effect them. Each forum runs for 3 weeks and is supported by a wealth of information about each topic as well as teacher's notes and activities that will help young people get the most out of the debates and improve their knowledge of the issues and political process.
For young people, teachers, youth workers and politicians interested in getting involved please email Beccy Allen, HeadsUp Project Manager at r.allen@hansard.lse.ac.uk
Some of the key decision-makers taking part include:
- Stephen Hammond MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport,
- Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Transport,
- Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Sustainable Aviation Group,
- Paul Rowen MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Light Rail,
- Robert Gifford, Executive Director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.
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The controversial debate has raged since July 2007 but this month the motion to allow the UK Youth Parliament to meet in the House of Commons was finally passed. This will be the first time in history that the chamber will have been used by anyone other than members of the lower house.
Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton said MPs had nothing to worry about: "Are we seriously thinking that we will have UKYP members leaving gum under the seats, swinging from the chandeliers, having to install juke boxes and that we are going to have a major chav riot in the place?" he said. "No, of course that isn't going to happen."
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The Hansard Society's Citizenship Education Programme is facilitating mock elections in schools throughout the UK to coincide with the European elections on 4th June. The election provides a perfect opportunity for schools to explore issues surrounding democracy and justice at a European level. Teachers can get hold of everything they need to run a mock election by visiting the Y Vote website and by registering they receive additional resources and support, all for free.
In a mock election pupils can stand as a candidate from one of the existing political parties or they can create their own. Manifestos are drawn up, speeches made and ballots counted - everything you'd expect from a real election. Each school will submit their results and the overall result for each constituency will be announced on 15th June.
The Y Vote mock elections project is supported by the Electoral Commission whose aim is to promote integrity and public confidence in the democratic process.
For more information, contact Adam Wilkinson at a.wilkinson@hansard.lse.ac.uk or on 020 7438 1221.
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The HeadsUp forums have been running since 2003 and are a great space for young people, teachers and parliamentarians to come together and debate some pretty serious political issues. Since September young people have debated issues with each other, politicians and decision-makers - Crime, Citizenship and Immigration so far.
Now the HeadsUp website will host debates about current issues in the media outside the 5 main forums. This gives a bit more flexibility in the topics that can be talked about and hopefully means that HeadsUp users will get involved in the political issues year round and not just for the three (intense!) weeks that a forum takes place. We also would like young people to send us their suggestions for the topics they want to talk about - the only restriction is that it should be about something currently in the news.
So if you know a young person that would like to get involved in discussing subjects as varied as stop and search to the civil war in Sri Lanka send them to the HeadRoom....
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Police were called to a school in West Yorkshire after 250 pupils held a protest over the suspension of two teachers. Students from Calder High School waved banners and chanted songs for two hours before eventually heading back to their classrooms. The protest is said to have been organised through a social networking site.
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The next HeadsUp forum will run from 23 February - 13 March 2009 and will discuss young people's perspective on crime in Britain.
Legislators getting involved in the forum include:
Lord Harris, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Policing and former Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority
Robert Brown MSP, the Scottish Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Justice
Philip Davies MP, Member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Angela Burns AM, Member of the Children and Young People Committee
Phil Willis MP, Chair of the Select Committee on Innovation, Universities, Science and Skill