In effect an entire generation has opted out of politics
In effect, an entire generation has opted out of politics."Which is not entirely true. Over a third of 18- to 24-year-olds take pride in being outside the system. But they are nevertheless concerned with many specific issues: environment, Aids and, above all, animals."The overwhelming story emerging from our research, both quantitative and qualitative, is of an historic political disconnection. As 5.2 million under-25s (16 per cent of the electorate) could vote if they wanted to, their political impact could be potent."For this generation," say Geoff Mulgan and Helen Wilkinson of Demos, "politics has become a dirty word. Rock the Vote is not alone.Statistics reported by Demos, the independent think tank, reinforce the view that young people have little interest in taking part in the parliamentary process.
In the 1992 general election, says Demos, 43 per cent (or 2.5 million) of under-25s eligible to vote chose not to, compared to 31 per cent in 1987. "Of the 40 per cent, or 2.08 million young people who did not vote at the last general election," says Anne Callaghan of Charter 88, the campaign for electoral reform, "more than one million have disappeared from the electoral register." Why? "It is a combination," she says, "of disenchantment, apathy and a hangover from the poll tax." Activ88, the youth wing of Charter 88, is also running a campaign to distribute voters' registration cards at youth venues. We've got the backing of John Major, Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair. The idea is to get young people involved in national politics. Rock the Vote is a vote for the future of political democracy".The directors of Rock the Vote are far from being Labourites.
They are Stewart-Smith, a successful PR man, John Booth of the Banker's Trust, Matthew Parris, Tory MP turned Times journalist, Kate O'Rourke, a lawyer, and John Preston, head of BMG, the record conglomerate and friend of Tony Blair, though no friend to the Shepherd's Bush crowd who know him as a keen supporter of the extraordinarily high price of compact discs in Britain.Moral and financial support for the Rock the Vote is amassing through businesses wanting to capture the youth market; to date they include Virgin, Tower Records, Carlsberg Tetley and Lloyds Bank.There is no doubt that the under-25s are disaffected from Westminster. "A lot of 25- year-olds are very mobile, moving to different jobs, six months in one flat, six months in another Actually getting registered is quite difficult. So that's why we're doing these seven gigs round the country. You'll be able to fill in these cards [shows pre-paid Rock the Vote postcard], post them back to Rock the Vote and we'll pass them on to the relevant councils to get people registered."Not that he said that on Wednesday night, to a packed house of students and flat-share twenty-somethings who looked as if they probably did vote Wisely he told his stream-of-consciousness jokes instead. So did potty Harry Hill, mimic Steve Coogan, oddball duo Lee and Herring and in-your- face comic Donna McPhail, all of whom have lent their names to the campaign, along with Jo Brand, M People, Radiohead and others.Lee and Herring put their stubby fingers on the question of why young people tend to be apathetic when it comes to voting when they claimed to be "anarchists" and had not registered to vote because they "would then be charged council tax", or what most of the audience still knew as "poll tax".If the under-25s did register and turn out en masse to vote at the next general election, what would happen? In all likelihood, Labour would do very well; a national poll in January found that 60 per cent of the under- 25s would vote Labour, with just 21 per cent claiming they would vote Conservative. Since Tony Blair (or "Blur" to the Shepherd's Bush crowd) became Labour leader, membership of Young Labour has doubled to 25,000.
The Young Conservatives number 7,000, with the LibDem Youth and Student movement trailing at 2,000.So is Rock the Vote really just a way of ensuring Labour gets a big vote at the next general election? "No, it's not," says Charles Stewart-Smith, executive director of the fledgling organisation "Rock the Vote has been set up on strictly non-party lines. "All young people should be registered to vote because apathy never changed anything," he says. On Wednesday night he hosted a show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, west London; this sweaty event was the opening gambit in a national Rock the Vote tour that takes in Edinburgh, Sunderland, Cambridge, Bristol, Liverpool and Southampton this month.Izzard's message is simple enough. This is because many young people are not registered and are therefore unable to exercise their democratic right.Eddie Izzard, the stand-up comedian (very popular among the under-30s) is the campaign's front man.