On 3 October, London Student Network (LSN) hosted their first panel event, ‘Your Vote, Your Voice’ on young people’s democratic participation, in collaboration with KCL Politics Society.
The event, hosted as part of DemocraFest, included speakers Max Sanderson from The Guardian, Ella Dorn, a freelance journalist working with The New Statesman and The Spectator and Fraser Myers from Spiked Magazine. Late additions to the lineup were ex-SNP MP Richard Thompson and Thomas Clowes-Pritchard, former chief of staff to an MP .
The evening began with a keynote speech by former Conservative minister Sir Alan Duncan, who sympathised with youth criticism of parliament, labelling the House of Lords a “political dustbin” and a “disgrace to the United Kingdom” due to it being unrepresentative of the broader public.
Sir Alan explained that, similarly to many young people, he had lost faith in the British political system.
“Is parliament working?” Sir Alan asked the room, “No, not very well.”
After the event, Roar asked Sir Alan whether he saw the enfranchisement of sixteen and seventeen year olds as a way of increasing rates of democratic participation.
“No, I think it’s too early.” He argued, “I think 18 is fine because then you’ve got a student loan, which is like paying a tax, so you are involved in the economic consequences of any decision you make.”
During the panel, discussion turned to ways in which young people could participate more fully in the process of government. Dorn identified a problem of young people feeling powerless and disenfranchised in the political system, arguing that “some cynicism [about the ability of young people to effect change in politics] is warranted”.
However, she said, “There are ways we can mitigate this.”
“I think if more people were aware of stuff going on in local government, they might be more motivated to actually get involved, because it’s easier to make a change at the lower levels.”
She also encouraged young people to write to MPs, canvas and participate in protests.
“There are all these things you can do to get involved at a very low level just by yourself.”
The importance of separating party politics from other forms of politics was discussed several times during the panel session, noting that democratic participation from young people in the internet age is more complex than in previous eras.
Myers argued that, “We need to see democracy as more than just voting – it’s about getting involved as well.” He added, “Democracy is as alive as we want to make it.”
He also encouraged people to “reject the identity of a young person” to prevent the generational polarisation that may be preventing young people from entering political spaces.
When asked about involving young people into the online political space, Myers said that, “the great thing about social media is… the barriers to entry are so low”.
In response to the criticism that young people are not engaging in politics, George Williams, a student in attendance, told Roar, “Even if they’re not directly participating, I do feel like political dialogue is just as widespread in this generation as it has been in previous ones”.
Sanderson stressed the importance of education to make politics “understandable and relatable”. He highlighted this as a barrier preventing young people from being politically involved, “It’s hard to get them to understand how it all works.”
In contrast, Sir Alan told Roar, “I don’t think there are any barriers beyond their own sense of enthusiasm, or lack of it.”
Sir Alan also said he was “particularly inspired” when he was in university by the politics of Margaret Thatcher.
He said, “It involved intellectual renewal… which I think inspired the whole generation and appeared to address the real problems of the age.”
Sir Alan noted a lack of such figures in modern British politics, ruminating that high-level politicians today “don’t appear to be people of substance anymore.”
“Their stature is very, very small and intellectually, there seems to be a very shallow approach and it’s all sound bites rather than proper arguments.”
Josh Robinson, President of KCL Politics and founder of LSN, said he was “really happy” with the event.
“I really hope that the main outcome of this is that people leave with a renewed sense of not necessarily faith in democracy, but faith in their own personal ability to enact positive change.”
Robinson emphasised the central importance of accessibility in the events KCL Politics Society hosts, delighted that the panel had an “honest and frank tone to it” making the event more accessible to students without much prior political knowledge.
In his introductory speech, Robinson admitted that he was not always interested in politics.
“An analogy that I sometimes enjoy is that I know nothing about football. And it appears to me when I speak to anyone who knows anything about football, that they have this infinite spectrum of knowledge and that creates a really inaccessible feeling. A feeling that even if I were to turn around tomorrow and love football, I wouldn’t know where to start.”
He explained that a similar feeling of inaccessibility in the political sphere was the impetus behind the Politics 101 series of introductory lectures, hosted at the start of the year.
“If you’re a chemist, a pharmacist, a dentist, we don’t care. We want these people there, involved.”
He noted the new offerings from KCL Politics Society introduced while he was Vice President last year, including a mentor scheme, doubling the production of their publication, The Dialogue, two new podcasts and democratic education lectures.
“Basically, the mission of the society this year is to consolidate all of that,” He continued, “To expand our mentorship scheme, to host a series [of lectures] called the Politics That You Don’t Hear About, focussing on lots of regional, or potentially, global issues that just aren’t spoken about enough.”
Robinson underscored his focus on reaching more students with KCL Politics Society events this year, “it only matters if people are hearing about them.”
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