Young voters in Farnham on key issues at election

Chloe Edwards is graduating from the University for the Creative Arts

With thousands of young people about to vote for the first time in a general election on 4 July, the BBC visits a university campus to talk to students ahead of polling day.

The young people we spoke to at the Farnham campus of the University for the Creative Arts said key issues included affordable rents and the NHS.

Chloe Edwards, 23, who has been studying acting and performance, said she was nervous but excited about voting for the first time.

“I think it’s really important to be able to express my opinions," she said.

"Reading the manifestos is very, very interesting," she continued.

She said housing, and finding a place to live after university, was one of the main issues on her mind.

“Sometimes I don’t even want to think about it,” she said. “For my career, as I study acting, I don’t really know where I am going to live permanently.”

She also said the state of the NHS was important to her.

Benjamin Shapley has been studying games technology

Benjamin Shapley, 20, has been studying games technology and is graduating soon.

He said his family were very engaged and he studied politics at A Level, but he was worried about the future.

He said: “I believe that education on politics should be mandatory from an early age.

“I feel like younger people see it in a negative light. They see politics as boring… and the government isn’t keeping up to date with how us as young people consume information.”

He believes a lot of information is coming from social media rather than news apps or websites.

'A bit of a struggle'

Meanwhile, Charlie Skinner, 21, president of the students’ union at the university, said that although there were a lot of details to digest, it was nice to take part in the election process.

He said important issues were the cost of living, student loans and maintenance grants, plus funding for the NHS, including healthcare for trans and gay people, plus neurodivergent students.

He said the procedure of "getting registered at another GP, getting all those meetings done" when away from home was also a "bit of a struggle".

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