“No one ever told me about politics” – the people Labour are missing

We only had a one hour class on politics at school and we never really talked about it at home. I always felt stupid when politics came up in amongst friends because I didn’t know the basics.

I am not the only one who has felt like this. Research by the Hansard Society shows that 59% of 25-34 year olds feel they know very little or nothing about politics. A fact which sits alongside the reality that at the last General Election less than half of people under 35 voted.

This is a massive number of people in their 20s and 30s – 3 in every 5 – that feel like politics is a world they don’t ‘get’ and don’t know hardly anything about. It is a massive danger for our democracy. What will this country look like in 20 years time if this keeps getting ignored? And it is a massive opportunity for political parties ahead of the General Election next year.

What does this sound like on the doorstep? Assuming we knock on their doors (which often we don’t), it is the girl in her late 20s who looks slightly embarrassed and says she’s not interested. Or the guy in his early thirties who says that all the parties are the same, because that’s what it genuinely feels like if you don’t know much about the difference between left and right, and the history of political parties. Or it’s the young couple who will stop and have a chat if someone asks questions and is approachable rather than barking at the door ‘Do you vote Labour?’

There are assumptions that people in their 20s and 30s are disengaged, and some are, but there’s another problem – many lack the knowledge and confidence to participate. Instead of accusations of disengagement, the question should be ‘Did anyone engage them in the first place?’. Research, again from the Hansard Society, shows that although younger people know less about politics, 61% of them they would like to be better informed. That should be a huge encouragement, and a wake-up call, to political parties.

That’s why I set up a cross-party campaign called No One Ever Told Me About Politics. We’re a group of volunteers in our 20s and 30s, who have come together with a single mission: to make politics make sense to people in their 20s and 30s and narrow this gap between our generation and politics. We want to bring the energy and ideas of the 17 million Brits in their 20s and 30s into politics, and change our country for the better as a result.

Labour’s standard answer that votes at 16 is going to solve this problem isn’t enough (although it is a policy I fully support). What about the whole generation above them who have been missed out? Up and down the country, in every Constituency Labour Party, Labour has to start caring about this generation. We need to relate to people in this age without the jargon, without making assumptions that everyone knows who the politicians are and what Labour stands for, and by tackling issues that the younger generations care about like housing and finding jobs. Our communication has to be relevant to Generation Y – like using technology, being creative rather than expecting the old style of meetings in cold halls to appeal, and crowdsourcing ideas. But more than anything conversations have to be held – conversations that invite not intimidate, encourage not alienate and explain rather than assume.

There’s another way you can reach out to this generation too. No One Ever Told Me About Politics is in the final days of trying to get crowdfunding for a new app called Ask Amy – designed to cut out jargon and give straightforward, non-partisan answers to political questions, Ask Amy is like a Siri for politics.

Please join us today in doing something important and amazing: help empower a generation of younger people to engage in politics and reverse the trend of this generation being missed out.