Ten ways to improve planning in the UK
Steve Newman offers provocative propositions to modernise the planning system, create affordable and sustainable homes, and offer financial benefits to the government and local communities.
One organisation’s blueprint for engaging young people in the political process.
One of the key questions at the heart of our politics is how to create a democratic system that does not just create opportunities for all citizens to engage, but one with which all citizens choose to engage. Persistent inequalities still dictate who takes part in our democracy. People who rent their homes, people with disabilities, low-income or minority ethnic communities and young people are all less likely to be included on the electoral register. In the 2019 general election, 47% of 18- to 25-year-olds voted, compared with 75% of those 65 and older.
Thankfully, the worn narrative that young people are apathetic towards politics has largely disappeared. Young people’s commitment to Black Lives Matter and the School Strikes for Climate, for instance, has demonstrated their willingness to engage and their knowledge of social and political issues. Yet, young people remain largely disengaged from traditional political systems. While this is partially due to the way these systems communicate and engage, often using impenetrable language and traditions that feel alien or outdated, even the removal of these barriers reveals a more fundamental issue: a breakdown in the relationship between politicians and young citizens.
Here at The Politics Project, we have been working for eight years to understand and improve the relationship between young people and politicians, including through our flagship programme, Digital Surgeries. The programme’s ambition is simple: we want every young person to have a meaningful conversation with a politician during their time at school. Currently, only 5% of young people engage with a politician during their time in education, rising to about 12% for privately educated students. We address this gap by creating these opportunities. To date, we have supported over 500 conversations between 300 politicians and 10,000 young people from over 400 schools across the UK.
Digital Surgeries supports groups of 10–30 young people to have an hour-long video call with a politician who represents them. Crucially, young people are supported (through workshops in school) to prepare for the meeting by learning about the guest politician and crafting relevant questions to ask. This helps them feel informed and in control, producing more meaningful interactions from which both sides benefit.
We work with all levels of politician, from local councillors to cabinet ministers. We also work with politicians from all political parties, helping to expose young people to points of view they may not have encountered before. While most Digital Surgeries involve young people speaking to the politician representing their ward or constituency, we have also supported them to give evidence to parliamentary select committees, providing a rare chance for parliament’s work to be informed by the young people it represents. We are in the process of rolling out a version of the programme in Welsh schools, funded by the Welsh government, and we also support US politicians to engage with UK students.
We believe these engagements act as a ‘civic inoculation’, empowering young people to feel comfortable contacting a politician later in life and serving as a counterweight to the stereotype that all politicians are corrupt or ‘in it for themselves’. Our work does not and is not designed to create an uncritical view of politicians. Rather, it humanises them, makes them more approachable. It shifts the idea of political institutions as a set of arcane rules and distant buildings to a (far more relatable) collection of individuals. One student commented they were surprised that the politician they spoke to was “just like us and not posh”.
What’s more, the process of preparing for and undertaking these meetings creates numerous benefits for young people, including building political knowledge and understanding, improving speaking and listening skills, and boosting confidence.
Part of the problem is that our democratic systems have not kept pace with technological change
This article appeared in RSA Journal Issue 2 2023.
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