‘Prove to under 40s you don’t hate us: a humble plea to any Labour leadership hopefuls’

Prove to under 40s You Don’t Hate Us: A Humble Plea to the Future Labour Leadership Candidates on a Generational Debt Crisis

Labour’s 2024 victory was partly powered by young graduates, who have found their political home on the left in recent general elections. An oft-scorned demographic, painted as elite, out of touch and undeserving, these voters have historically suffered from simultaneous visibility as the economic winners of the “university premium,” while the downward social mobility of millennial and Gen Z Brits has broadly been invisible in social discourse. 

The lack of visibility for my demographic’s growing economic precarity was annoyingly persistent, at least until earlier this year after the Chancellor decided to once again freeze the student loans repayment threshold from 2027 to 2030. A revenue-raising mechanism the Treasury must have likely assumed would not garner much attention given the unsympathetic targets— ensured graduates not making much over minimum wage would now be required to pay an additional 9% marginal tax on their income, in a cost-of-living crisis no less. 

What happened next was a surprising rupture in national discourse; finally, a strikingly loyal segment of Labour’s base had had enough, and the horror stories of doctors and nurses paying more marginal tax than premier league footballers filled the airwaves. 

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While government ministers seemed unprepared for the unbridled rage, close watchers would not have been surprised by the emergence of such generational ire. At once, the threshold freeze became the topical symbol of a deep-rooted generational injustice in Britain’s economy which, by design, favours pensioners while millennials and Gen Z experience vanishing access to the cornerstones of ‘the good life.’ 

From homeownership to the very jobs that a university degree was supposed to guarantee, the current economic outlook for British young people is bleak. For those who will not inherit from homeowning parents, homeownership looks elusive. In the final quarter of last year, there were 17,000 graduate postings for a total of 1.2 million recent grads. Employment security has declined by every measure and, perhaps most troublingly, a recent AXA survey revealed that one third of those surveyed between ages 16 and 24 expected to retire early due to ill-health, though a large portion of them were opting out of pension auto-enrolment because they couldn’t spare the cash.

This economic hopelessness has deep roots and many owners. While the Labour government can rightfully assert they did not create the Plan 2 fiasco, that will be little comfort to the 5.8 million loan holders at the mercy of relentless tinkering by successive governments – including this one. Nor will this demographic find comfort in being told this government is boosting public services (read: the NHS) which we all use, but millennials and Gen Z use far less than their elders. 

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So, I want the Labour leadership candidates to hear this from someone who started university in 2012, who took out the maximum loans because she came from a single parent home, has two degrees, and has now been unemployed for a year: platitudes will not cut it. 

My generation is raging and seemingly finding political expression everywhere but the party we helped elect the last time round. As Professor Sir John Curtis made clear, Labour lost votes to the Greens and seats to Reform; by the next election there will be 10 million graduates who will be expectant of change and have an abundance of party options if Labour does not show those under 40 it has a real, tangible offering for them. 

Concerning what this offering might be, the lamentable truth is that the incoming candidates have a buffet of generational ills to choose from. While the Shared Ownership scandal is a strong contender, a swift reversal of the student load repayment threshold freeze would show a leader’s decisive reengagement with our fraying social contract. 

Granted, this would be a redress of an unjust policy decision, not a new and creative proposal.  That must also follow. 

But this reversal would signal that Labour knows generational economic despair is urgent, and that gone are the days when Labour could take this vote share for granted. 

British graduates have moved away from Labour in droves; a new Labour leader could make some simple, but bold steps to invite these voters back home. I hope the winner will.

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