According to a recent BBC news article, the latest figures show between December 2009 and February 2010 the number of jobless 16-24-year-olds went up by 4,000 to 929,000.

Finding a job is becoming harder than ever for many, and not for the lack of want. In many areas of the UK just finding a part time job at minimum wage is tough, even for the best qualified.

Unemployment is also a growing concern for many students. Whether graduating from school, college or university within the next few months, finding a job may be more difficult than ever.

So with the general election less than a week away, what are the main parties planning to tackle youth unemployment, and which should young people vote for? I’ve included the following video to help you decide:



Are you one of the 2.5million people currently out of work in the UK? Which party do you think is best equipped to tackle unemployment?

Move over television debates and make way for the first Digital Debate. Democracy UK recently launched a campaign via You Tube and Facebook to get questions from the public to put to the three main party leaders in a digital debate.

Members of the public were allowed to submit questions via the Digital Debate on Facebook and by video on You Tube. The campaign has gained 181,328 votes on 5,329 questions submitted by 10,621 people and video answers by the three leaders will be published on both Facebook and You Tube on Wednesday 28th April.

The You Tube video used to get questions from the public:



Peter Barron, director of communications for YouTube's owner Google, said:

''Although the televised debates will be a historic first, we feel that there is an opportunity for a different type of platform that allows voters to be in charge of the questions. By collaborating with Facebook to put together one initiative we hope to enable as many voters as possible from across the UK to take part.''

(The Telegraph)

Democracy UK on Facebook could be described as a breakthrough in political discussion. The page allows users to RSVP to the political debates and the general election, with the opportunity to Rate The Debate and create your own Ministry of Mates. Here's one I made earlier:

Is the use of Facebook a good way to engage users in the general election, or should politics be taken more seriously than gimmicks such as 'Ministry of Mates'?

In the run up to the general election 2010 it seems that more young people are becoming involved and active in politics than in previous years. It has been predicted in an article by the Guardian that voter turnout amongst those aged 18-24 will increase from 40% in 2005 to 50% in 2010.

On Wednesday 21st April, young people scrutinised Gordon Brown over Labour’s policies on immigration and his expenses on Radio One’s Newsbeat, proving that young voters are politically involved and more than prepared to take a view. A full transcript of the interview can be found here: ‘Brown savaged by young Radio One listeners over Labour's record on immigration’.

However there is still a significant amount of young people who are highly likely not to vote. A survey by ComRes with first time voters (aged 18-22) found that 11% were certain not to vote and 33% were absolutely certain not to vote. When asked ‘why are you unlikely to vote in the general election?' they gave the following answers:

• Don’t follow anything like that/politics/not interested/don’t understand it: 44%
• No reason/not bothered/do not want to vote: 13%
• Never voted before/don’t usually vote: 12%
• Not been paying a lot of attention to their policies: 10%
• Don’t feel there will be any change/no difference between the parties: 7%

(from the article: ‘Young First Time Voters Not Won Over By Politicians’)

Some credit the rise of the internet and websites such as Facebook for the increased political involvement amongst young people this year. Others suggest that young people are angry at the current political system and have become more active partly as a result of the recession and expenses scandal.

What do you think is the main reason for the increase? Are there enough young people planning to vote? What do you make of their reasons not to?

Yesterday the first ever live political debate between party leaders Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg made British political history.

The votes are in. According to the polls, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg came out on top, with the majority of viewers agreeing that he gave the best performance. But is this the X factor or the running of the country?

As it stands, we don’t actually know for sure whether the live debate has had much impact on voting decisions, although it seems clear that it was incredibly popular viewing. Facebook and Twitter homepages were completely littered with commentaries during the debate with all ages getting involved in the discussion in some way. Public Engagement – tick.

But is this X Factor style of political debate something we should take seriously or is it just sheer entertainment? Perhaps the setting does offer an interesting dimension to the different parties in the way that the leaders are put under pressure and tested on their debating skills. But did it help you to make your decision? Did you find out anything you didn’t know before?

It’s likely that the live debate was successful in reaching audiences that otherwise might not have paid much attention to the different parties in the past. In that sense, surely it’s a good thing. What did you think about the live debate – a worthwhile public engagement exercise or a cringeworthy battlefield of clashing personalities?

Columnist Charles Moore recently conducted an investigation into the young person’s vote. His findings, published by The Telegraph in ‘The young voters who will put a cross in the box marked hope' tell an interesting story. He only spoke to university students so it is likely that the results won’t apply to all young people, but what he did find is interesting...

Firstly, he found that most young people plan to vote, although many are still undecided. Secondly, he found that most young people think their vote must be about the economy, although there were differing views about the current state of the economy. Some thought it was getting better, some thought it was getting worse.

Moore discovered that university students are not as condemning of Gordon Brown as he predicted. He said: “What struck me most were the answers to questions about Gordon Brown. I had expected some hostility and some ideological support, but found neither. Some said that they thought people had been too nasty to him and that he was doing a difficult job reasonably well”. Is this an accurate view or are young people are more forgiving than older generations?

It also seems from Moore’s findings that the Conservatives are the more promising party in the minds of university students, with many enjoying the idea that Cameron will give more freedom to small groups to make their own choices. Moore writes: “Words like "modern" and "change", and the new, more female and multi-ethnic look of the party's candidates were all noticed, and registered favourably”.

Do you think the Conservatives will get the young person’s vote? If you are a university student, are you swayed towards the Tories? Why? Why not?

For those of you who are still undecided about who to vote for in the general election, there are now a number of online surveys available to help you make your choice.

Many people are currently making their voting decisions and policy, party and leaders in the news are all playing a part in shifting opinions back and forth. The following surveys allow voters to compare their views to those of the main parties and offer a solution based strictly on policy.

Who Should You Vote For is a website that was used 1 million times in the 2005 election and has been re-launched for 2010. It asks you to select the party you expect to fit your views before you begin. Vote Match is a website which allows you to enter your postcode and prioritise issues as well as agree/disagree.

Vote For Policies is a website that gives you the option to select which issues you would like to be quizzed on before you begin. At the time of writing, 71,170 respondents have completed the survey and the Green Party is in the lead with 28.41%.

Currently the Green Party is in the lead on most issues including crime, democracy, education, environment, health/NHS, immigration and welfare. Labour are in the lead on Europe, and the Lib Dems are in the lead on the economy.

I would hazard a guess that most of those who completed the survey did not achieve the answer they were expecting or necessarily wanted to get. Given that the Conservatives and Labour are neck and neck (give or take) in the polls, Vote For Policies tells a different story.

Should we be voting strictly on policy? Do these website provide an accurate answer as to who should get your vote? If you have completed a survey, did you get the result you expected?

Most importantly, do these websites provide an appropriate solution for young voters who are struggling to decide who they should support?

I stopped students at Southampton Solent University and showed them two photographs; the first of Gordon Brown and the second of David Cameron. I asked them to give descriptions of their initial thoughts and words that first came to mind. The experiment had no complex agenda, it was simply to discover the feelings of young people towards these two politicians rather than their opinions on particular policies or parties:



What is interesting is how many students (there were exceptions) described the personalities of the politicians with very little reference to the parties that they represent. Personality politics is an interesting subject, particularly with reference to a generation bombarded with celebrity on a daily basis. Which do you think has more influence over young voters - the personality of a party leader or the reputation of the party itself?

Election Predict 2010 announced today that conservatives have dropped 5% in the betting. The website says that there is a 50:50 chance of having either a conservative majority or a hung parliament.

The following map shows seats in the UK at the moment:



If you click 'Betfair forecast' you can compare the seats now to the seats after the general election according to predictions by the world's leading betting exchange.

Why not make your own predictions using the diagrams above and let me know the results? Who do you think will get the majority vote? Or do you predict a hung parliament? Is there still time for Labour to pull it back?

Yesterday Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed 'The Budget 2010' which has had journalists, politicians and economists in a spin since. Is it a budget that will help our country's economy to recover or is it a tactical budget to gain latent voters in a bid to stop the conservatives coming into power in the up and coming general election?

It seems that labour have targeted young people specifically with their financial plans. Young people under the age of 24 will be guaranteed work or training if they have been unemployed for six months until 2012. In addition, young parents will receive more in tax credit. There will also be funding for 20,000 extra university places, although only in science and maths.

However this may not be enough to entice young alcohol drinkers and smokers. The new budget includes a rise on wine, beer and spirit duties by 2%, tobacco duties by 1% and cider duties by a huge 10% above inflation starting on Sunday at midnight.



In reaction to the budget announcement, David Cameron accused Labour of making a complete mess of the economy. He said: “They have doubled the national debt, and on these figures they are going to double the national debt again”:



What are your thoughts on the budget 2010? Are you even more confused about who to vote for than you were previously? Will this budget announcement affect the way you vote? Do you think the cuts are enough for the recovery of our economy? Do you even care?

Independent candidate Denny de la Haye, for Hackney South and Shoreditch in East London, has set up what he calls 'Direct Digital Democracy' online, which he assures voters will be used to enable his constituents to tell him which way to vote on each issue debated in Parliament.

This radical new approach is arguably an attempt to reach out and offer something different to those who are confused about who to vote for - like many young people. The idea is that Denny de la Haye will set up online polls on his website, getavote.org, for each issue debated in parliament, and vote whichever way the public tells him to on those issues.

According to the website there are only three exceptions to this rule. He says:
1. I will always vote for laws which improve equality
2. I will always vote for laws which will improve civil liberties
3. I will always vote for laws which improve our democracy

From the website: “How will it work? For each vote coming up in Parliament, I will put a poll on this website. Every voter living in Hackney South will have a login for this website, and will be able to vote in the polls using their computer or their mobile phone. Whatever the majority vote is, I will vote that way."

Denny de la Haye, who says that he is 'not a career politician', has been highly involved in social media during his campaign, using Twitter and Facebook to drum up support. If you take a look at getavote.org, you will see that it has a colorful, simple and youthful layout. You only need to look at his logo above. Could it be that he is going for the young voter? If so, is he successful in attracting them?

Would you consider giving him your vote if he was in your community? Should all politicians be using this approach?

It is a well known fact that the young person's vote has been on the decline for quite some time, so what efforts have we seen from politicians to try and engage with young people?

I can't very well say that there has been no efforts whatsoever. I'm sure there has been the odd occasion in which MPs have visited schools or universities, or answered questions from young people from time to time. Assuming that this is the case, is it enough? The fact is that I can't think of a single effort by any MP which has been directed specifically at young people. Can you?

Could it be that politicians don't actually want to change to target young people because they are afraid of losing their more mature followings? Or is it that they don't actually care that young people don't vote?

One argument put forward as to why many young people are not voting is that the representation of politics in the media is too complicated. However many politicians would argue that the media over-simplifies politics in order to create entertaining stories. So what’s going on?

Perhaps the route of this issue comes down to the relationships between politicians and the media. There is clearly a large amount of mistrust on both sides towards the other, and manipulation is often prevalent in the communication between the two parties. These trust issues can sometimes filter into the media communications we receive, making it contradictory. Could it be that many young people are not as confused about content as they are about what to believe?

“Newspapers, magazines, TV, the internet and other types of media are used by the public to find information about what's going with the issues they care about and Parliament generally. So, if there's a communication breakdown between politicians and the media then that's going to have a big effect on the people of the UK in terms of their political knowledge and ability to get involved” (Headsup.org.uk)
Perhaps it is not so much mistrust between the media and politicians as it is a lack of understanding which causes the communication breakdowns. ITV political correspondent Nick Robinson, columnist for The Times, wrote in 2004 about the pressures of having to report on a vast range of complex specialisms under the umbrella of politics such as weapons systems or intelligence.

He said: “I have always tried to resist adding doubt and suspicion to every political statement. I would deeply regret ensuring that people did not believe a word of what politicians say. Politicians would do well to remember that journalists care as much as they do about whether they are trusted” (Times Online)

Can the lack of engagement in politics amongst young people be attributed to the above mentioned issues?

It has been suggested by Jungle Drum readers that one of the reasons many young people don’t vote is due to a lack of political education in schools. As it stands, the subject of politics is not compulsory in UK schools, despite the fact that it has been called for on many occasions.

The most recent plea was by a state school sixth former Pritesh Raichura from North London, writing in The Times last week whilst on work experience. Pritesh wrote that the politics must be incorporated into the curriculum if the government wants young people to be politically aware and active, particularly as they have the ability to help shape the form of the next government by the time they finish their A-levels.

In the article, ‘Make politics lessons compulsory says sixth former’, Pritesh said: “Nowhere in my school career have I discussed UK politics, the parties and their policies, the voting system or the way the government works. So when most of us leave school, 18 years old, we have not even learnt about what each party represents or why it is important to vote”.

What are your experiences of political education at school? Is the lack of political education the main reason that young people are not voting? Or is this the tip of the iceberg?

Armed with a loaded question and a video camera, I went on a mission around Southampton Solent University stopping passing students and lecturers. I asked them 'Why aren't young people voting?'. This video shows the responses I got:

The main themes to emerge from these 'on the spot' responses include:

• There is a lack of political education in schools
• The representation of politics in the media is too complicated
• Political communication is not targeted at young people or used enough online
• Young people don't understand the different parties and their policies
• Young people are too focussed on the 'here and now' to take an interest in politics

Do you agree with these statements or have anything to add? Perhaps more importantly do you disagree with any of these statements?

At the last general election, retired people were twice as likely to vote as young people. With the next general election looming, I want to try and uncover the real reasons that many young people are not voting.

Some might say it's laziness, whilst others might say young people don't care about the running of the country. Perhaps politics is just too boring to take an interest in. There are some adults who might say that today's youth culture is a disaster and that partying is all they think about.

On the other hand, perhaps young people are not being educated on the subject of politics at school so they have little knowledge and don't see it as important. Is politics too difficult to get into as a young adult? Many young people will tell you they don't understand politics and so they give up trying.

There are many factors that need to be considered here, and I aim to explore each reason thoroughly. What are your views? Who or what is to blame for the devastating number of young voters today?