Surge in new voters sparks talk of UK election ‘youthquake’

In a British election dominated by Brexit, young voters who h say in country’s decision to leave European Union could hold key to victory. That is, if y can be bored to vote. It has long been a truth in British politics that young people vote in lower numbers than older ones. In last election in 2017, just over half of under-35s voted, compared to more than 70% of those over 60.

But that may be changing. According to official figures, 3.85 million people registered to vote between day election was called on Oct. 29 and Tuesday’s registration deline — two-thirds of m under 35. number of new registrations is almost a third higher than in 2017. Amy Heley of Vote for your Future, a group working to increase youth participation, says figure is “really encouraging, and shows that politics has been so high profile recently that it is encouraging more young people to vote.” That doesn’t mean, however, that young voters like what y see. Many appear unimpressed with choice between Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, main opposition Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn and a handful of smaller parties.

“I think y’re all unlikeable,” said Callum Nelson, a 21-year-old law student attending a question session with local candidates at his London college. “I’m tempted to exercise my right to spoil my ballot.” About 46 million people are eligible to vote in Dec. 12 election to fill all 650 seats in House of Commons, including hundreds of thousands who were too young take part in U.K.’s 2016 Brexit referendum. Britain’s voting is 18, although Labour and or parties, including centrist Liberal Democrats and environmentalist Greens, want it lowered to 16. current election campaign is a product of that 2016 vote, in which Britons decided by 52%-48% to leave European Union after more than four deces of membership.

More than three years on, country remains an EU member. Johnson pushed for December election, which is taking place more than two years early, in hopes of winning a majority and breaking Britain’s political impasse over Brexit. He says that if Conservatives win a majority, he will get Parliament to ratify his Brexit divorce deal and take U.K. out of EU by current Jan. 31 deline. Labour says it will negotiate a new Brexit deal, n give voters a choice between leaving on those terms and remaining in bloc. It also has a rical domestic nda, promising to nationalize key industries and utilities, hike minimum w and give free internet access to all.

While most opinion polls give Johnson’s Conservatives a substantial le overall, surge in new young voters is good news for Labour, which is seeking to defy odds and win a general election for first time since 2005. Young voters are more likely than ir older compatriots to oppose Brexit, which will end Britons’ right to work and live in 27 or European nations and will have a major — though as yet unkwn — ecomic impact. Matt Walsh, a senior lecturer in journalism at University of Cardiff, said young voters also strongly back abolition of tuition fees and stronger action against climate change — both policies “at center of offer that Labour Party is putting forward to young people.”

Labour’s strategy “is to try and grab those missing voters, get m registered and get m to vote and support Labour policies,” he said. Labour is spending more than its main rival on social media s, churning out a stream of memes and messs on Facebook and Instagram. It is also outspending Conservatives on Snapchat, whose users tend to be younger than those on or networks. Twitter has banned all political vertising. Labour also pushed to get young people to register to vote before v. 26 deline, spreing mess through tweets from celebrity supporters, including grime artist Stormzy. Corbyn posted a link to government’s voter registration website 26 times on Twitter and 31 times on Facebook in month before deline. Johnson, in contrast, didn’t post link or word “register” at all on Twitter, and just once on Facebook.

While some analysts are forecasting an electoral “youthquake,” ors are cautious. This is a rare winter election, and turut could suffer if Dec. 12 is a wet, cold day. It’s also difficult to kw how much voters’ decision will be motivated by Brexit and how much by domestic issues. “At this point, I’m kind of sick of Brexit,” said Susie Chilver, a first-year politics student at University of Bristol, in southwest England. “So, things that are swaying it for me are things like social housing, and things like health care, more about social issues than foreign policy.”

Konstantis Matakos, senior lecturer in department of political ecomy at King’s College London, said re is an assumption that young voters are “leaning more Labour.” But he says ir geographical spre —and wher y show up on polling day — will ultimately determine ir impact on outcome. “It’s t a straightforward assumption to say that this surge in registration rates will undoubtedly benefit Labour in terms of gaining electoral seats,” he said. Some young voters agree that Labour shouldn’t take ir support for granted.

“People think that students will definitely vote for Labour,” said Molly Jones, a 19-year-old student at London’s Westminster Kingsway College. “But a lot of m who I’ve spoken to, it’s t like that. y will vote for Liberal Democrats, or Greens, or even Conservatives. “All parties are just a mess at moment, and all leers are terrible,” she said. “It makes it really hard to vote for someone — you just hold your se and vote.”