The Reader: There won’t be a youth explosion in UK politics

Pupils get their GCSE results at Harris Secondary School, St Johns Wood
Lucy Young
21 August 2020

Matthew d’Ancona expresses wishful thinking [The exams fiasco has politicised a generation, Comment, Monday ]. First, if young people were as influential as he states in supporting Extinction Rebellion and the People’s Vote campaign, then clearly not enough of them voted in line with that: otherwise there wouldn’t be an 80-seat Tory majority in the Commons.

Second, Nick Clegg, rightly, paid a high price for his treachery. He pledged to scrap tuition fees and did the opposite. No comparison at all with what is going on now. Third, virtually every action by the Thatcher and Major governments irritated young people but did not stop the party being in power for 18 years. Most people appreciate that this Government is having to react quickly to extraordinary circumstances. We all hope to return to “normal” — in which event the young revolutionaries will do as their forebears did. No storming of the Bastille after all.
Howard Ricklow

Editor's reply

Dear Howard
You make a good point about the 2019 election, although there is some evidence Labour held on to seats where youth representation is strong. But I wasn’t really arguing that there is now a pro-Starmer wave. More that the exams scandal, because it so vividly connected personal experience with policy failure, and spread injustice so widely, would ignite the political consciousness of a generation. Where this will take young voters is impossible to know. But I do believe the ground has shifted.
Matt d’Ancona, Columnist

Boris and Hardy

How often behind the doors of No 10 can the quote from Laurel and Hardy be heard: “Well here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.” Really, Boris Johnson fails to embrace the principles laid out by Lord Nolan for ethical standards in public life: honesty, selflessness, integrity,objectivity, accountability, openness, and leadership.
David Algar