Sometimes democracy feels frustrating but people can make a difference – it starts with voting

As voter registration deadline looms, I’ve been spending time with many young people who are deeply sceptical about the value of voting. I tell them in the last five years I’ve been hit by a clamour of noise – emails, letters, phone calls, tweets and meetings – and if they don’t vote I can’t hear them. But, they ask, what difference does it make?

It’s a good question. Every week MPs get hundreds of computer generated emails asking us to sign up to particular campaigns. While the sheer volume might make an impression, they aren’t necessarily the campaigns that really stick in my mind. Neither are the ones that use stunts, although thinking back, in the last few years I’ve had to negotiate life size badgers on Westminster Bridge, watched Michael Gove chased by a chicken and bumped into a giant ice cube in the House of Commons, prompting one colleague to ask whether it was looking for a giant gin and tonic.

But there are some campaigns that stick in my mind, sometimes because they mattered a lot to my constituents, sometimes because they mattered a lot to me personally and sometimes because they were just great campaigns. Here are a few of my favourites:

1. The Prisoner Book Ban – the campaign to overturn Chris Grayling’s latest daft idea, restricting books to prisoners, brought together charities, lawyers, the Labour Party and a whole host of authors, which demolished Grayling’s claim that it was just a misunderstanding by ‘left wing pressure groups’. The “shelfie” saw thousands tweeting pictures of themselves with a shelf full of books before the high court ruled the ban unlawful. Fun, creative but deadly serious, it succeeded despite the odds being stacked (sorry) against it.
2. The Lobbying Act campaign inspired an astonishing display of unity, bringing together charities, lobbyists and transparency campaigners as well as faith groups, trade unions and parliamentarians. They spoke with one voice to condemn the government’s chilling crackdown on free speech making a powerful and lasting impression. The Act will be consigned to history by a future Labour Government.
3. The campaign to Save the Education Maintenance Allowance was one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen in the last five years. Young people from across the country took to the streets of London, not for themselves but for the young people who came after them. They were joined by Labour MPs, trade unionists and lecturers who understood the devastating impact the loss of EMA would have on young people from less affluent backgrounds. Although they didn’t win, it was a proud day for young people, forcing the government to continue the EMA for thousands of young people who’d already started their courses and showing the country what a force young people can be.
4. The Don’t Move Me campaign finally brought to an end the worst 18^th birthday present for children in foster care as every year hundreds of placements were ended and vulnerable young people were left to fend for themselves. The campaign brought together my late friend and colleague, Paul Goggins, with charities like the Fostering Network to quietly and effectively persuade Ministers that foster children should be able to stay put until 21. Paul won so many important battles for children. This, his last, proved you don’t have to make lots of noise to make a lasting difference.

Sometimes when democracy feels frustrating, and change seems impossible, it’s useful to reflect on what a difference people can make. Martin Luther King once said “in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”. Register to vote by Monday at: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Lisa Nandy is Labour’s candidate for Wigan and is shadow Charities Minister