The BYC Manifesto – A Vision for Government by Young People BY Jack Welch
With the build up to the General Election gathering so much momentum by organisations working to increase the youth vote come May, like vInspired’s Swing the Vote or the new campaign set up specifically by the Cabinet Office to address the issue, the Democratic Engagement Programme, it was almost inevitable a youth manifesto would be conceived. Alongside the Labour and Green Parties’, which are composing separate documents to accompany their main manifestos, the British Youth Council (BYC) have put together a document that addresses five top issues voted by under-25s in their 260 strong member organisations.
The top five selected, following an online ballot in January following the policy motions in their updated general manifesto, include:
- 16: A New Age for Democracy
- Our Minds Matter
- Living Wage for Everyone
- Save our Youth Services
- Teach First Aid in Schools
Each of these issues has faced surrounding publicity and coverage in the past five years and are seen as achievable proposals for the next five years to 2020. The manifesto and its accompanying video had a special launch event in Parliament, which was chaired by BYC Honorary President, Julie Hilling and joined by three spokespeople from the three main political parties gave their views about the topics. These were Vice Chair of the Conservatives, Rebecca Harris, Shadow Minister for Civil Society, Lisa Nandy, and Lib Dem MP, Simon Wright. In these responses it was particularly notable to listen to all three parties agreeing that youth services needed to be defended, with Harris saying that young people need a pro-active approach in lobbying their local authorities, where control of spending was devolved to from central government after 2010. Both Labour and the Lib Dems are equally supportive of Votes at 16, whereas the Conservatives remain more cautious around the issue and are not openly supportive of.
BYC’s current campaign, the League of Young Voters, is also an example in which they are working closely to boost voter registration, where a YouGov poll commissioned by the charity, shows that two out of three young people are still undecided by which way to vote. On the living wage, the parties all highlighted the problems in which lower wages for young people meant they could stay competitive against adults, but with a disparity of wages around those aged 16-21, being paid fairly for the work you put in is becoming much higher on the agenda; something which YEUK is keen to support.
The BYC Chair, Mita Desai, has already gave a rallying cry to politicians, with an article for the Huffington Post Young Voices published, challenging them “Listen to us, and give us something to vote for!” With just two months to go now, and the election campaign about to begin, it remains to be seen how high on the agenda these issues will be when it comes to policy. Perhaps they may want to think about a Youth Minister portfolio, as previously backed by the charity.
Click here: BYC Manifesto 2015 FINAL (web use) to read the Manifesto in full!
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