00:00 Oxford
- Pictures of young people demonstrating against war in Iraq
Guide Voice: In the week
that war with Iraq was declared, thousands of young people took to
the streets in protest. Yet in the 2001 General Election only 39%
of young people turned out to vote.
00:15: General
shots of young people
Guide Voice: A Survey
of first time voters funded by the Economic and Social Research
Council has found that young people are keen to play a more active
role in the political process but are turned off by politicans.
00:32 Set
up shots Dr Matt Henn and Dr Mark Weinstein, researchers, ESRC
'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University
Guide Voice: Dr Matt Henn
and Dr Mark Weinstein of Nottingham Trent University, started the
project, the first of its kind in 2001. They have surveyed over 700
first time voters.
00:47: Dr Matt Henn, researcher,
ESRC 'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University
- "There is a conventional view out there that
young people are politically apathetic, they are politically lazy,
contary to that we found young people are interttes in political
affairs but they are not sop interested in the type of politics
that take place in Westminster."
01:02 Dr Matt Henn, researcher, ESRC
'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University -
"We also found that young people consider that politicians
are very cynical, they are self-serving, and they are just unable
to enthuse young people to get connected to
politics."
01:17 Dr Mark Weinstein, researcher,
ESRC 'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University
- "We asked young people an open question that
literally says please can you tell us what is the most important
local, national or international issue that is facing the country
at the moment, and we got lots and lots of really good detailed
responses for that question."
01:35 Dr Mark Weinstein, researcher,
ESRC 'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University
- "and they ranged across a very complex
political agenda from big international issues through to things
that really dealt with politics at the local level. So we think
that there's plenty of evidence to suggest that young people are
concerned, are interested in politics."
01:53 Dr Mark Weinstein, researcher,
ESRC 'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University
- "There's a very clear identification with this
age group of politics being about the system in some way, and very
little idea that politics is about me taking part in some sort of
way that might affect the way in which I lead my
life."
02:08 (male student earrings voxpop)
- "And it's just when you see the politicians
neglecting the issues that you know, you're quite interested in,
that when you develop a bit of distrust".
02:16 (asian guy smart jacket
voxpop) - "The old adage is true that they tend
to lie a lot, and er perhaps too interested in self promotion
rather than actually doing public good".
02:27 (shawl girl voxpop) -
"I think what they say is very controversial, they mean
one thing but do another, I feel that's what's happening in
politics at the moment really."
04:52 Graphics
sequence: pie charts describing voters' reactions to questions
Guide Voice: Nearly two
thirds of young people claim that elections don't change anything.
Only 1 in 5 claim elections make a difference. Most young people
felt that voting would not make a difference to the ay Britain is
governed.
02:54 Dr Mark Weinstein researcher
ESRC 'First Time Voters' project, Nottingham Trent University
- "And the message that clearly goes out to the
mainstream political parties is that there is a job to be done to
connect with young people and their concerns."
03:02 Charles Hendry MP,
Conservative MP for Wealdon, Shadow Minister For Young
People - "Well young people are on the receiving
end of criminal behaviour more than anybody else, and so it's
crucial that we involve them and make sure that they understand
that we are addressing those issues seriously."
03:14 Alison Goldsworthy, Chair
Liberal Democrats Youth and Students - "To be
crude young people aren't voters, so very often the party in
government thinks, why do I need to cater for them when I could
cater for teachers, for anybody else that is actually going to be
really voting for me next time? You know, who's going to come
higher up your priority list, and it's a terrible thing to say, um,
and I do think that at their heart people do care about young
people, but at the same time, who's got a better cost for you if
you look at it from a purely business perspective."
03:37 Yvette Cooper MP, Labour MP
for Castleford, Minister Lord Chancellors Department -
"We know that young people ahve always been less likely to
vote, but the problem has been becoming more seriuos recently, and
we need to make sure that young people don't feel alienated from
the political process not just while they're young, but also for
many years to come."
03:52 Winning
film from "Votes Are Power' competition
Guide Voice: The Electoral
Commission is an independent body, set up to increase public
awareness in the democratic process and to encourage people to take
part. Engaging youth voters is high on their agenda. This year they
ran a 'Votes Are Power' design competition to raise awareness
amongst 16-24 year olds of the importance of voting.
04:14 Tabitha Cuncliffe, Media and
PR Manager, The Electoral Commission - "It's very
important that young people get out and vote, so that their voices
are heard, so that they're represented in ourdemocracy. I mean in
fact the disengagement of young people is one of the key challenges
for the future health of our democracy. Um, if you know, if a huge
proportion of young people aren't voting, then they're not being
represented, um and we feel that it's very important that they
realise how powerful their vote can be and their voice can
be."
04:26 Christophe Tuck, Overall
Winner, Votes are Power competition - "It's going
to be the youth of today that's going to be the leaders of
tomorrow, so you know, if we can get them to start thinking about
that then, to put their voices into action then hopefully we can
get somewhere."
04:39 Bruna Guerriro Winner, Votes
are Power competition - "You don't have to be
really old to start voting, so if you're like really young and you
start voting then, you just know what's going around you, and you
just start telling people, and nor really telling people but you
just start being able to have you own sort of speech when you're
young to you start changing things when you're young, you don't
have to be much older to like start changing things around
you."
04:47 Jack Hawkins, Winner, Votes
are Power competition - "Young people are going
to stay around the longest hopefully, I mean you've got 60 or 70
year olds voting but in 50 years time you want the people who are
18 now to be, some of them are obviously going to be politicians
then. We need young people to be interested in it so that we have
people in the future that can put their views
across."
VNR ENDS 05:00
