Introduction

“I enjoyed the fact that the politician could ask us questions about our views and how we can help. It was good to talk about political issues with someone who could potentially do something about it.”

Student, Hayesfield Girls’ School

Across the UK, there is still a huge disparity between the number of young and old people engaging in the democratic system.

In the 2019 UK General Election 47% of 18-25 year olds voted, in contrast to 74% of people aged over 65 (Ipsos Mori, 2020). This disparity means that young people continue to be underrepresented in decision-making, which is leading to inequalities based on age. This is in part down to a breakdown in relationships, with young people feeling that they don’t know or trust those involved in politics. This affects young people’s willingness to engage with traditional democratic structures, and reduces motivation to engage with the politics they see as not working for them. The rise in young people involved in activism shows that they aren’t apathetic; they are increasingly political including through Black Lives Matter and climate protests. Yet they are often excluded from power by their lack of engagement with formal political structures. Conversely, politicians often do not meaningfully seek the views of young people to inform policy, leading to less effective, less youth-led outcomes.

“It was interesting and a different approach to learning politics. I liked that we got to hear about politics from someone directly involved in it.”

Student, Jewish Community Secondary School

At The Politics Project, we saw the need to give young people and politicians the chance to meaningfully engage with each other and broker positive relationships. In 2016, we began our journey to improve youth political contact and give young people an opportunity to have a voice.

We knew from our work in education that one of the most common engagements was the ‘school visit’. From our experience, we knew that many of these opportunities were being under-utilised, often reduced to photo opportunities for schools and politicians alike. We began piloting an approach to reimagine these engagements. Five years later we have worked with over 400 teachers across the UK, developing a range of programmes designed to support young people and politicians to meaningfully engage. Our work is now embedded in schools and we support young people to take part in a range of consultations, hustings and Select Committee enquiries. This report shares learning and insights from our flagship Digital Surgeries programme. We hope that it can act as a good practice guide for anyone taking part in political contact, and can encourage more educators and politicians to give young people a chance to have a real say on the issues that matter to them.