Change the culture of voting to engage young people

This government has failed young people on a catastrophic level. Scrapping Educational Maintenance Allowance, raising tuition fees, and allowing nearly a million young people to remain out of education, training or employment sends a clear message: the Government doesn’t care about young people. Older people and pensioners were mentioned over 130 times in the Government’s last budget; young people were mentioned only once.  It’s not just disgraceful, it’s part of Tory ideological warfare which cruelly and cynically excludes young people from society.

I don’t know why there hasn’t been a massive organised and sustained uprising against the Government by young people. Some may say it’s because they have no faith in the political process- and in many ways I wouldn’t blame them if this were the case. But I don’t believe young people are disillusioned and disinterested by politics- just the way politics is presented to them.

The most important and long lasting way we can change this is by enfranchising 16 and 17 year olds. Ed Miliband has promised that a Labour government will introduce voting at age 16. This is absolutely crucial to keeping politics alive and relevant. How do we expect young people to be engaged if they are unable to take part in the process? Less than half of eligible voters aged 18-24 voted in the last election. We are facing a lost generation of democracy unless young people are enfranchised.

And we need to go further; compulsory and fit for purpose citizenship education in all secondary schools is imperative. Michael Gove threatened to scrap it in his 2011 curriculum slaughter. Citizenship education has stayed, but three years of indecision damaged confidence. The new curriculum, due to be introduced later this year, has a slimmed down version of citizenship teaching at a time when we need to be engaging and energising young people about politics not putting them off.

We also need to register young people to vote as part of compulsory citizenship education. I grew up in the United States, where citizenship education is taken (almost too) seriously.  My high school classmates and I were registered to vote in the classroom. We knew that at the next election all we had to do was walk into the Town Hall and cast our vote. If people vote once they are much more likely to vote again, and if voting starts at a young age then it becomes a habit. Organisations like Bite the Ballot, a party neutral campaign to empower young voters, could be brought into schools to achieve this.

We can also make voting easier.  I love the rush of casting my ballot in the local school hall, but why can’t we vote online? The technology exists, we just need to educate and inform. Some may say this is potentially dangerous, and would make elections too much like X Factor, or ordering a grocery delivery. But there are ways of taking voters through a process that could avoid any confusion as to whether you were ordering loo roll or voting for your MP. We need 21^st century voting for a 21^st century parliament. If we are serious about making politics relevant for young people, making voting easier is crucial.

Labour stands to make huge sustained gains by being at the forefront of voting for 16 and 17 year olds, especially in the lead up to the next General Election. It also means all political parties will have to take notice, develop and implement policies that are relevant- and not just pay lip service to young people. Bring on the voting revolution!