After repeatedly telling the public there would be no general election, U.K Prime Minster Theresa May called a snap general election late last month. It wasn’t shocking to see that this came after poll results showed the Conservative party having their greatest lead in popularity compared to Labour since 1983.
However, since then, support for Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has risen, especially amongst young people.
A number of influential voices in the grime scene, including Akala, Stormzy and JME, have rallied behind Corbyn while encouraging young people to register to vote before the Monday deadline.
The ‘Grime 4 Corbyn’ website pushes people to register to vote and the campaign also released the ‘Corbyn Riddim’ by 010DA and Zain Dada. The song features the Labour leader explaining some of his key pledges playing along with a grime beat.
The campaign’s aim is to bring about popular support within the grime scene for Corbyn by connecting with young people and voters aged 18-24. The website emphasises the need that our voices have to be heard on June 8th.
The campaign does a good job at emphasising this by offering the chance to win tickets to a secret party, to be held one week before the election.
With over 50% of members of parliament being over 50, it is hard for them to genuinely understand what we want. But, by registering to vote and by actually casting a vote, MPs will see that we can swing votes, that our voices matter and this will result in policies being made which will be directly aimed at the younger population in Britain.
We can swing the election result in Labour’s favour. It was only a few days ago when JME, grime MC and co-founder of Boy Better Know, met with Corbyn to discuss ways of encouraging the youth in Britain to register to vote, get involved with politics and help with campaigns.
These elections do not happen often and it is sometimes hard to make sure our voice is heard. However, we, the youth in Britain, are the people who will have to deal with the consequences longer than anyone else. So, we need to take this opportunity to make sure the outcome is one that favours us.
Voter registration closes at midnight on 22 May. Click here to register.
