With the General Election in just over two weeks, momentum is increasing for Jeremy Corbyn. Similar to his leadership campaign – where his chance at winning the Labour leadership was originally priced by bookies at 200/1 – people are starting to wonder if he could actually win the election. The gap between the Conservatives and Labour are slowly decreasing in the eve of the election, due to a number of support Corbyn’s policies have gained.
With the deadline to register to vote to end on 22 May, can young voters swing the outcome of the election? It is reported that in the last General Election, only 43% of 18-24-year-olds turned up to actually vote – in comparison to the turnout of 78% of 65+-year-olds. If more than 60% did, the outcome of the election would have been totally different.
#GE2017, however, provides a different case to previous elections. With the election being announced by Theresa May on the 18th of April, there was a rise in campaigns encouraging young people to register to vote. Campaigns such as #WhyVote – led by Julie Adenuga and #Grime4Corbyn are proving to be highly influential amongst young voters due to the certain states of services in the country. They’re bringing attention to important issues (such as the NHS) that may not be seen as relevant to young people before, but relevant now more than ever.
Political analysts know that the Labour Party has the knowledge of the fact that if young people turned out to vote and vote Labour, they have a chance of winning – which is highly evident in their current policies. Policies in the Labour manifesto such as free university fees, raising the minimum wage to £10 and lowering the limit of that minimum wage to 18, as well as lowering the voting age to 16 – are the most popular amongst young people. Labour has also pledged to get rid of university fees for students starting university in September 2018 if they win.
Finally, Theresa May was recently grilled by Andrew Neil in the #bbcelection Interviews. Struggling to have clear answers on where the £8billion funding for the NHS will come from and why she’s changing her stance on her own party’s manifesto on policies regarding social care. Little interviews like May’s recent one can easily influence a handful of voters – how can we easily trust a potential PM when all they’ve done is say things and do the complete opposite?
