Why Labour clubs are important

The Guardian recently called 2015 the least predictable election in 70 years. The vote of young people, many of whom are undecided voters, could therefore be the deciding factor. As a result, the role of Labour clubs in universities and Further Education (FE) institutes  will be crucial in the next few months.

The party has already indicated its focus on young voters – Douglas Alexander has stressed the importance of social media in the election campaign. But it is students that can have the greatest effect on their fellow young people.

In terms of numbers, having ten to twenty additional canvassers on a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening can double the number of doors a Constituency Labour Party (CLP) can knock on in one session. On top of this, in my experience anyway, those who answer their front doors often seem pleasantly surprised by the fact that a 19 or 20 year-old might have given up their time to talk to them, and subsequently canvassing sessions can be more fruitful. For example, when I was door knocking in London on one occasion, two young parents explained to me how they had always felt that politicians were more concerned about older people, but that the presence of students in our canvassing team had suggested otherwise.

There’s plenty of non-anecdotal evidence of the influence Labour clubs can have in creating strong links between a CLP and the local area too. When Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East, stood for re-election in 2005, some sources predicted a Liberal Democrat victory in the constituency. Smith ultimately held the seat, partly because of his decision to focus on his constituents rather than Westminster, partly because the CLP was so strong. But also partly because the two large universities in his constituency and their respective Labour clubs provided his campaign with the numbers and allowed many more contacts to be made than would otherwise be possible.

Labour clubs in universities and other higher education institutions also play another less obvious, but possibly equally as important, role. With young people one of the least likely groups to vote in 2015 (a recent YouGov poll found up to 2 million under 25s were unlikely to vote) having an active Labour club on campus could make all the difference in marginal seats. Students who feel disconnected from Westminster politicians may well be won back by their friends and classmates.

Indeed the fact that many universities are in, or close to, marginal seats only makes this even more important. Reading West is on the list of Labour target seats for 2015 and has a large university nearby. The same is true of Lincoln, Edinburgh West, Leeds NW, Cambridge, and many more.

Presiding over the trebling of tuition fees, amidst a whole host of broken promises on education, the Lib Dems and the Tories have made it clear that they’re not the parties for students. Labour has the chance to win the votes of thousands of young people in 2015, but only if the importance of FE clubs is recognised.