Blogger Andy Hicks writes about why there is no incentive for young politicos to join a political party
Total Politics has kindly asked me to write a second article following on from Engaging with Students. I want to cover a similar issue to student engagement in politics; recruitment and participation in politics, affecting young people especially. I previously referred to Young Labour and local West and South Yorkshire Young Labour groups and described recruitment problems as a malaise in British politics. The problems with student recruitment lead on to problems recruiting young people. How can young people progress in the British party system when the system fails to recruit them?
Anyone concerned with recruitment of new members and also for local and national candidates of the future will know Barack Obama changed the game in terms of giving volunteers simple door-knocking tasks and soliciting many small donations, often from non-partisan or formally non-political supporters. He transformed the fundraising model, no mean achievement in these times and also the way people come in contact with politicians. See for example, Moveon.org as an example of how to get people, and not just those who already support you, engaged in elections at a micro level. From such small beginnings, recruitment and fundraising can grow.
In this country, what do we have? Constituency parties and MPs don’t see it as their job to develop the local youth wings of their party’s constituency or region. Many politicians and those employed by parties were involved in their younger days. That involvement was likely to be of enormous influence on their current work. This involvement needs to be replicated all over again, year on year. Where are the next generation if these functions cease or fall by the wayside, if constituencies, candidates and MPs do not reach out to young members and those interested in politics, where else will future councillors, MPs, party workers and volunteers emerge from?
A pie and peas night at the local working men’s club does not cut the mustard. A gala dinner with £500 a head tables, likewise. Many national candidates lack local visibility. Who watches the news and thinks, ‘I want to be a politician?’ Who by the time they leave school, understands how the voting system works, how one party differs from another? You have to learn as you go along and many people never do. Therefore, they don’t vote. This disengagement on a wider scale leads to a decline in party membership, a drop in donations and a narrowing of the social and financial backgrounds of those who are active in party politics.
Youth Officers are non-existent in constituency parties as there are no young members. Young member organisations can’t solicit donations so there is no income. National and regional events are too expensive to attend and aren’t subsidised. The age of the average party member is rising year-on-year and candidates are chosen from a narrower band of society. This is no coincidence and must change to ensure Britain’s political future isn’t permanently middle-aged, middle class and middle of the road.
Andy Hicks blogs at Love Your Politics.