Amongst the many issues raised by our performance in the European Elections one that troubles me greatly is the loss of young voters to the Green party. Amongst 18-25s of my acquaintance who might be considered centre-left and politically aware, and having taught Politics A Level for 9 years and kept in touch with most of my students this is a reasonable number, many more voted Green than Lib Dem. This trend was somewhat masked by a slight overall drop in Green votes, which can partly be ascribed to their almost total lack of media coverage.
In itself trend this only concerns me a little – protests votes are common and after all we have been there before: older members are quick to say ‘remember 1989’ (I do – a very good year as I got the new Transformers toy that I wanted for Christmas). What concerns me more is the lack of a reason why these voters should vote for us now.
Consider for a moment: how would you persuade a 18 year old voting for the first time to pick us? Certainly the preamble to the constitution will work on a few of the more philosophically minded. You might sell the odd one on ‘the most progressive of the three major parties’ and others may be convinced by our unashamedly pro-internationalist approach. That still leaves an awful lot left.
Let me ask it another way: what single policy would you give the practically minded young politically aware centre-lefty to vote for us? When I joined in 1999 it was anti-fees, pro-decriminalisation of soft drugs, and support for the Euro. Um. The first of those doesn’t work so well now, the second is still on the book but as a ‘serious party of government’ we don’t talk about it and the third…well we all make mistakes. As a life-long wonk I was also sold on our constitutional reform programme but that’s a minority interest and in any case has been a little watered down by coalition.
So what’s left? Raising the threshold for income tax is a great policy but not one that resonates much with under-25s. Our environmental policies are sound but aren’t going to complete with the Greens for those youngsters who consider it their top priority. Our civil liberties stance is more about what we wouldn’t do that what we would.
All of which means that I am really struggling to see not only how the young politically aware centre-left voters will return to us for next year, but why they should. If I were 18 again, with the priorities I had then, I’m not sure I’d vote for us. Maybe you could argue that this is a niche enough section of the electorate not to matter, but it’s probably enough to have swung us an MEP is the South West (6,000 behind, or 3,000 switched votes which is about 50 per constituency) and could certainly make a difference in our several student seats at the next election.
All of which is not intended as a moan or a lament, but a genuine plea for us to rediscover our radical edge with some policies that a. appeal to the 18-25 centre left b. we are prepared to talk about in public. Otherwise a section of the age and political spectrum that used to be largely ours might be permanently lost.
* Adam Killeya is a Lib Dem member, activist and town councillor. He has held various positions in the party including as a parliamentary candidate and agent. He is currently Regional Chair of Devon & Cornwall Lib Dems. In the real world he is Head of Sixth Form of a Secondary School in Cornwall.
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28 Comments
I must’ve been imagining Clegg’s stuff on this in the media within the last month where, as a serious DPM he was talking about how drugs law needed changing.
I mean, I do pretty much agree with your thesis, but it’s still AFAIK party policy to phase out fees if we form the govt, we’re making grounds in the drugs debate and I don’t think the Euro was ever a vote winner.
I have 16 year old and and 18 year old sons who I am taking to a party meeting next week. Will interesting to see what their take is!
This is a very good point and it’s not just that they won’t vote for us, but more importantly few will campaign for us and young people are a very important source of campaigning energy and enthusiasm (not least because they don’t usually have families to look after).
The only policies I can think of which will resonate with at least some from this group is our leadership on gay rights issues and that we are the most environmentally friendly of the parties who are likely to get more than a handful of MPs.
Mat: it is of course possible that you were imaging it as part of a drug induced haze, but assuming you weren’t I was talking about our clear policy passed at conference to decriminalise soft drugs, and to end imprisonment for users of harder ones. That it a much more robust policy than simply starting a discussion about drugs law need changing. The former was a radical and formed policy, the latter welcome but neither so radical nor so former.
Whilst it may still be party policy to phase out fees it’s irrelevant now because we know it won’t happen, and anyway no voter would believe us on it.
The Euro was certainly only ever a niche vote winner, but this article is talking about a niche – younger, centre left voters tend, in my experience, to be rather more pro-Europe than others.
I’m always slightly wary of arguments that rely on the idea that ‘young people are idealistic’ or ‘middle aged people are materialistic’ and so on. I think you get all sorts of people existing at all ages, though not necessarily all in the same proportions.
That said, I agree that it is hard – but not impossble – under our electoral system for any party to show a radical edge on the one hand, and then be moderate enough to capture a plurality of votes in a number of constituencies on the other hand.
Increasing the personal tax allowance is a radical policy – after decades of Labour and Tory governments between them shifting the burden of taxation more towards low earners. But it is perhaps too materialistic a policy to excite the people you talk about.
Being positive about our membership of the EU is, as you say, the right kind of thing, but we need more like it.
Adam – how do young people (i’m now in my 40s so can’t describe myself as such anymore alas,.lol) perceive the media and how they are informed about things? I’d be interested to know. Are they questioning of narratives or do you think they just go with the flow? I do think there’s an issue in how we as a society are controlled to think in particular ways. Newspapers then parrotted over and over by broadcasters who should know better. To challenge these narratives (which we have fallen victim to as have the Greens) would be to forge a truly anti-establishment basis. Anyway, are most young people followers of the narrative or are they ready to challenge it by calling for better information, less hype, more voices, greater pluralism?
I wonder what we have to offer other interest groups too – if I were in Scotland I wouldn’t vote for us as first choice, there’s more room in Wales but the shadow of the fees debacle continues to look large (as some is us warned at the time, not that the professional party was minded to listen), in much of the Midlands we have nothing to say. In the south I suppose we are the only credible ‘not the Tories’ . Do we speak to pensioners? NHS workers? Small businessmen? Religious. Groups? Non religious groups? Higher tax payers?
The original article is spot on – just what is our message, and how on earth do we deliver it credibly?
Liberalism is a wonderful, warming, humane philosophy. It deserves so much better.
Adam – I think the income tax threshold policy ought to be attractive to young people, as low-paid workers new to the labour market are likely to benefit the most. And the Government’s 1million+ apprenticeship places are starting to make a difference to youth unemployment. But I think your general point is a good one.
In my view, the answer is housing policy which is a huge issue for under 30s – we need clear commitments to better regulate unscrupulous private landlords, to build more homes at affordable rent and to boost shared ownership (part rent, part buy) to help young families get onto the housing ladder. And Clegg and co ought to talk about housing more.
A great article. I was drawn to the Liberal Democrats due to their view on civil liberties, constitutional reform and immigration.
As you said, constitutional reform is not really a vote winner beyond sad people, such as me, who consider it to a fascinating area, as well as important.
Civil liberties are an interesting one because it is a vote winner and loser because whilst it is something more people (young people, especially) care about than it realised, it is also something that is hard to make a policy on that is radical enough to win votes, without being impractical.
Finally, immigration is such a toxic issue that whilst it gain us much support among younger voters (who tend to be more pro-immigration and internationally minded), it will only ever lose us voters elsewhere.
However, I do believe this article does provide the solution to our problem, which is that the thing we currently consider our weakness could also be seen as our strength. Unlike Labour, UKIP, the Greens and the Tories we do not need to be defined by ‘one’ key issue, we are the party which deals with things holistically and makes good policies on all the key areas. This is the message we need to get across to young voters (and the electorate as a whole)!
@MatGB
” still AFAIK party policy to phase out fees if we form the govt”
Which would have been a perfectly reasonable reaction, if the LDs currently in government had been mildly reverent to party policy during their time in government. I suspect what a politically curious young person gets from this is: party policy plus £2.50 will just about buy you a cappuccino.
The Green Party are a last redoubt of the authoritarian and emphatically illiberal ,old-Labour socialists. The young , as well as being green like me, are apparently libertarian in outlook. They don’t take to being bossed about so this aspect of the Green Party needs flagging up. The sheer incompetence and fratricide amongst the Greens over the bins dispute in the only place they actually control, ie Brighton, should be instructive also.
For what it’s worth, one thing that I now and then used to hear from students (not so much now) was an interest in online rights/liberties (the type of area that the EFF cover in the US). Of course you could rightly argue that single-issue voters on that subject are few and far between and, in any case, would probably go for the Pirate Party if the option were available, so it probably isn’t worth very much. Nonetheless…
Our radical edge? It’s clear it still exists in the hearts and minds of members but I think it’s long been lost in Lib Dem Towers. Of course, it’s still useful to TPTB in the party as a presentational device but that’s as far as it goes. The central party’s track record suggests that, suitably weighted by seniority and influence, the majority view (but with honourable exceptions I’m sure) is not how to challenge the establishment but how to join it.
@Leekliberal
“The young , as well as being green like me, are apparently libertarian in outlook. They don’t take to being bossed about so this aspect of the Green Party needs flagging up.”
Your point about the Greens is quite accurate, but again this is the distinction between offering an alternative and simply, if you’ll excuse the expression, slagging other parties off. I’m sure the LDs have done some stuff lately that might attract young people who are a) green and/or b) violently allergic to the nanny state: what, exactly?
I am interested in winning all centre-left voters to my more centrist position, rather than what I would call pandering to the Guardian. Even when I was young I wasn’t centre-left, I was a New Labour supporter and set up my first business at 18/19.
@ Eddie “I am interested in winning all centre-left voters to my more centrist position, rather than what I would call pandering to the Guardian. Even when I was young I wasn’t centre-left, I was a New Labour supporter”
Proposition 1 – Don’t hold your breath here!
Pandering to the Guardian – Puzzling, hardly a good friend to the Liberal Democrats. Polly Toynbee! They have a track record of broadly supporting us [obviously not very recently] and then advising their readership to vote Labour.
A young supporter of Blair’s New Labour … and now a supporter of Clegg’s New Liberal Democrats. A glutton for disappointment then 🙂 Only joking!
I hold no brief for the Green party but I do believe in being objective. The old line that the Green party is authoritarian is not fair. Like it or not the Green party has a better record on civil liberties than the Lib Dems, for example by opposing secret courts. So I do not think we can say that anymore.
* Joe: you are effectively saying that my article over simplifies a bit. Too right – I only had 500 words!
* Ashley: the more politically aware certainly question what they get from the mainstream media more, but many do not. I think this is as true of older as younger though. If anything the young, through wider use of the internet etc, have greater access to a variety of perspectives (hence why more still voted Green despite the lack of coverage which led to an overall dip in their vote)
* John: I agree up to a point, this is just the group we need to attract that I have spoken to most, although I think the income tax threshold appeals to a lot of those other groups but not so much to under 25s.
* James: Apprenticeships is a good point and my view is slightly skewed by speaking mostly to A Level students. Income tax thresholds should interest youngsters, and does interest those in work more, but in reality very few 18-21 year olds not in work care about it much. Housing is an interesting point, but we’d need to closely consider exactly what the clear attractive policy was. Some kind of right to buy from landlords would be very bold but maybe impractical and undesirable for other reasons.
* Al: yes I more or less agree with all that you say. However as our immigration policy will never appeal to the ‘I’m not racist, but…’ crowd there is something to be said for being bold enough to appeal to those who take alternate views. The holistic message is a good point but hard to put across snappily – surely we need both – the holistic philosophy and the pithy radical edge policies?
* Daft ha-porth: a touch cynical but I agree with you as far as fees goes.
* Leekliberal: The Green are a coalition (as are all parties) and although they have an illiberal socialist element, as well as some hardcore deep ecologists, they also have a lot of lefty liberals.
* GF: you have a point although I’m not suggesting we go totally down the challenging establishment route – the fact that our policies are realistic and achievable is also a selling point. We just, in my view, need more of the radical element than currently.
The trouble is Liberal Democrats don’t look like we have ‘a radical edge’ at all anymore do we?
Those that do appear to have that are UKIP and the Green Party, where is the Radical Liberalism in the current leadership talk of us being ‘in the centre’ and the whole image we project makes us look as if we are comfortable as part of the establishment, and desperate to be in the Cabinet.
I did detect a subtle change in voters reactions to us between 2011 and 2014. In 2011 we were attacked for tuition fees and having ‘gone in with the Tories.’ This year the attack from former supporters on the doorstep was more subtle, several people told me ‘we thought you were offering a genuine alternative politics, but you’re the same as the others now.’
When I joined the Young Liberals it was just after the ‘red guard’ era. The YLs were considered to be anarchic radicals with crazy ideas by many older Liberals. I just wish Liberal Youth could revive that spirit of rebelliousness and innovative thinking, it would be a breath of fresh air. In recent years many of our younger activists have looked as if they can’t wait to buy a decent suit, get a professional job, and become a PPC, hardly the foundations on which rebellions are made or on which a radical edge is sharpened!
Hi Stephen, I feel bad about my quite harsh line about “pandering to the Guardian”. Centre-left politics that focuses on fairness and suffering is fine, but the centre-left has become swamped with prejudice pandered to and promoted by the media and then by politicians. I am a fan of innovation, but radicalism makes me weary. Of course, the right panders and promotes myths about things like welfare reform, sexism and racism, although as I have mentioned in the past, the left likes myths in these areas too. Liberalism has always had a pro-science and pro-fairness streak and I think that is the kind that should be promoted.
By the way, I didn’t go direct from supporting New Labour to “Clegg’s New Liberal Democrats” :). I dabbled with libertarianism in between before realising I didn’t like big cuts and going back to a less “radical” position!
http://press.labour.org.uk/post/87195549459/tristram-hunt-letter-to-michael-gove-on-queensbridge
Labour’s dogwhistle in reaction to UKIP
‘the second is still on the book but as a ‘serious party of government’ we don’t talk about it’
A real shame, as a party of evidence-led policy, we should be putting forward the idea of decriminalising soft drugs with gusto. There was an episode of QT with Ed Davey, where he said that the party would want to find evidence and make its decision from there, but was then too cowardly to answer ‘If evidence found that legalising cannabis was the best way forward, would you be open to the idea?’
“younger activists have looked as if they can’t wait to buy a decent suit, get a professional job, and become a PPC, hardly the foundations on which rebellions are made or on which a radical edge is sharpened!”
One thing that tires me out is how condescending the ‘Old Wise Man’s Committee’ of our party is towards younger activists. Even pre-Clegg/Coalition, this was a massive problem; I was never sure which shocked me more, how condescending these people were towards to me, or the fact they could not understand why they only had one young activist in the whole local party. I see this group still exists, today.
Another great article! I think it’s going to take a lot more defeat before the party realises that it needs radical ideas to survive.
Liberal Al: My comment was not meant to be condescending, you’ve omitted the word MANY which I put before younger, and in doing so you twisted the meaning of what I said. I’m not criticizing ALL younger activists by any means. I would like to see many more young activists in the party, and not just because my back and knees mean I can’t deliver as many leaflets as I once could!
I would like to see more younger members be developing new policies, and I would welcome being a bit of a thorn in the side of us olde ones. But if you were under 25 who would you joining, the new ‘centrist and unionist’ Liberal Democrats or the trendier and more ‘alternative’ Green Party?
What about PR and federalism?
These are both very important to me as a young voter (not sure how representative I am aha)
I agree with the general gist of the paper, what policies are left now that we’ve reneged on trident, fees and nuclear power.
I think two things have really damaged the party’s standing with young people:
1. Going back on the promise to abolish fees. Yes, you can make the argument that the party is in coalition, finances are tight etc., but going from abolishing fees to tripling them makes that look weak.
2. Going into government, especially with the Tories, means that young people can’t see the Lib Dems as an anti-establishment party or protest vote. That leaves UKIP or the Greens, with the latter more likely to offer youth-friendly policies.
This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking post. I joined the Liberal Party at the age of 19, after a period in Labour and a mainly Labour if not very political upbringing. What made me do it? As far as I can remember, disillusion with the Wilson government, a positive view of Jo Grimond (who promptly resigned when I joined) and one other thing. I felt I stood on the left, I wanted the world to change to reduce poverty, injustice, environmental damage (I was a very early Green) and disempowerment, but I had limited faith in top-down solutions through centralised planning at the national level. The Liberals seemed to be a party that shared my hunger for liberty and equality (not just equality of opportunity in a devil-take-the hindmost society) and were developing ideas about devolution and community empowerment that met the point about the top-down approach.
The merged party started badly but became recognisably something I could be fired up to work for. Now we seem to be the party of modest material gains for the aspirational 20s-40s, plus some libertarian and environmentalist causes we don’t talk about much because polling shows they’re minority concerns. Community empowerment in particular has been lost in favour of atomistic individualism, the politics of the supermarket. That’s fine with decisions that can be made at individual level, but there are vital issues you can’t solve that way.