Tory leadership: Losing young voters 'risk to democracy'

As the UK awaits its new prime minister, a leading think tank has warned failure to take young people seriously could harm future democracy.

Hannah White, from the Institute for Government, said losing young voters could risk fuelling "extreme forms of politics".

Decision-makers must realise "the voice of young people... is not one voice".

Her comments follow a poll for the BBC indicating just 17% of 16 to 24-year-olds felt positive about UK politics.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Radio 1 and BBC Newsbeat, asked a representative sample of 2,719 British 16 to 24-year-olds about their attitudes towards the UK.

Of all those who responded, 17% said they felt positive or very positive about the UK's political future.

Across the whole sample, 17% of the 16 to 24-year-olds polled agreed that political parties in the UK cared about young people.

And 12% said they trusted politicians to tell the truth.

Hannah says it's "entirely rational for young people to be feeling this way".

"It's not surprising that people don't feel positively about politics," she says, referring to events such as the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis.

"And we can throw climate change into that mix, which many young people feel they are more concerned about than established figures in politics."

The online poll also found 22 to 24-year-olds were more likely than 16 to 21-year-olds to say they were very positive or positive about UK politics.

It reported that 13% of 16 to 18 year-olds surveyed, and 18% of 19 to 21-year-olds, answered positively.

This was compared with 20% of 22 to 24-year-olds.

'Endless arguments'

For 20-year-old Holly from Bristol, politicians need to "follow through on promises" for young people like her to have trust in them.

"I feel like quite a few have a different agenda to what they're actually talking about," she said.

Holly and Will feel politicians need to do more for young people to trust them

Holly also believes it's difficult to trust politicians who don't trust each other.

"There's lots of political turmoil with different ministers, and not having trust within their own party. How are we meant to trust them?"

Will, 20, says: "We haven't been given any reason to trust them so it's hard to believe what they're saying now."

He feels policies around the economy over a number of years have not "necessarily been to serve young people".

"It's just seems like we're going backwards rather than forwards," he says.

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Even with a different party in charge, such as Labour, Will says he would be sceptical about trusting politicians.

"It's about their agendas and what they are actually trying to do, who is supporting them, it's a bit tricky."

He also feels the "polarisation of politics", with "two sides of the spectrum with people just arguing" is a factor in a loss of trust.

Holly says politicians need to "actually follow through on promises" to win back her trust.

"Especially in terms of the climate," she says. "Actually have something where we can see it as a young person walking around and see it in real life."

Nicole and Courtney think politicians need to think more about people who are less well-off

For 20-year-olds Nicole and Courtney, from Greater Manchester, politicians have to think about "other people who actually need help".

"They're thinking more about themselves, and the people who have more money than the people below them," Nicole says.

Ben, 25, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, tells Newsbeat he needs to know more about politicians to trust them.

"I feel like we don't know enough about them as people to really trust their decisions," he says.

"And the things that they put forward - we don't have much knowledge of what's going on in the background," he says.

Ben says young people need to know more about "what's going on in the background"

Government expert Hannah says it's important for young people to be engaged in politics, and politicians need to "go back and think about how we engage with people who are maybe quite different to us".

And she says there is a mutual benefit for politicians and young people to serve each other.

"Unless young people get engaged in politics, their interests will continue to be sidelined," she says.

"I spend a lot of time looking at politicians close up and what motivates them in the decisions they make is what the people in the country who are going to vote for them care about."

"And taking account of the things which motivate and which young people care about, is the best way to get those people engaged in politics."

Newsbeat has contacted the government and different political parties, but not yet heard back yet.

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