LCC Broadcast News Room

Nearly a quarter of first time voters don’t intend to vote in this year’s general election according to an exclusive survey conducted by LCC. Overall, a third of young people who are old enough to vote in a general election for the first time this year were not interested in politics.

Twenty four per cent of the eighty five London students asked said they were not going to vote. A further eleven per cent said they had not decided whether to take part in the political process or not.

This reflects a general trend of apathy among younger voters as new findings from the Electoral Commission have revealed that 3.5 million younger adults have not registered to vote with half of 17 to 24-year-olds are not registered in test areas.

A Political Playground

Many of the students who said they were not going to vote were angry with MPs over expenses, the recession, and thought they were ineffectual. Scott, an eighteen year old student from London, said “They’re just like children, it’s like a playground. They never sort anything out and they just argue amongst themselves in a huge room.”

Sian, and Jessica, who are both 19 gave their reasons for why they would vote: Sian believes it her time to vote for politicians because “I know there’s a lot of changes in my area, and I know they’ll make them”. Jessica will be voting because her local MP is community orientated, “it’s something we should all take part in - people think one vote won’t count, but it really does!”

Snaring The Younger Vote

Younger people make up a large and important part of the British voting population, and attempts are being made to get them more involved in politics. Gordon Brown has said the voting age should be lowered to sixteen as part of a package of radical electoral reforms and last week the BBC hosted a special edition of Question Time, specifically aimed at first time voters.

Rosie Shimell, a twenty one year old local election candidate for Southwark, South London, says the main problem is that young people do not understand the political system. “The very obvious solution is to start with young people and introduce compulsory political education classes in schools”.

Shimell added “it seems quite ridiculous that you have compulsory religious education classes from the age of five until the age of sixteen and yet you never have to do any compulsory political education.” Her advise for politicians wanting the younger vote was to take advantage of the internet, speak to young people directly, and encourage younger election candidates.

Watch BBC Three's 'First Time Voters Question Time' http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r8zjm/First_Time_Voters_Question_Time

Find out how to register to vote http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/voter-registration