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?