Young Britons turning economically and socially liberal

[BaconKetchup]

www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578660-young-britons-have-turned-liberal-both-socially-and-economically-politicians-need-get

I'm absolutely not surprised that young people are more socially liberal, with much more tolerant attitudes to things like gay marriage, but I didn't think so many would also be economically liberal (a dislike of taxation and welfare.)

A very interesting read.

[BaconKetchup]

Woops, forgot to link properly:

www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578660-young-britons-have-turned-liberal-both-socially-and-economically-politicians-need-get

[Startail]

Makes perfect sense to me (and pretty much my own political views, although I am much older).

If you go to an ethnically mixed school and know your TV hero's and maybe friends in real life are gay, you are going to be socially liberal.

If you've worked hard at school from your SATs in Y6, in a way we certainly didn't, you are going to resent those of your peers who didn't work and think they can claim the dole, become single mothers or similar things.

If you have/will have student debts your going to want to hang on to every penny you can.

[claig]

So it sounds like the young are natural Tory voters then.

"The only politician whose views chime with the liberal young is the hedonistic mayor of London, Boris Johnson."

[claig]

"George Osborne, the Whiggish chancellor of the exchequer, is loathed by Tories for his social liberalism and by Leviathan?s lackeys for his spending cuts. Nick Clegg, who has tried to steer his Liberal Democrat Party onto classically liberal ground, has even more foes. But these men are not wrong so much as early . They went into politics too soon. One change would help . If 18- to 24-year-olds voted as reliably as the over-65s"


It sounds like the Economist is worried that the Tories might lose and they are desperate for young voters to bail them out.

[claig]

"For the sake of freedom, the young should hurry to the polling station."

This sounds like the Economist is almost doing an advert or political broadcast for the Tory party and hoping that the young will vote for the Tories in order to counteract the older Tory voters who are abandoning them in their droves and turning to UKIP.

[Manchesterhistorygirl]

I'm a mature student and from what I hear from my colleagues at university this does not surprise me at all.

[claig]

Of course, it won't work and the Economist in their ivory towers are dreaming and can't read the tea leaves and the Tories will have to wake up and smell the coffee if they want to win.

Instead of trying to get down wiv da yoof and hugging a hoodie, if they don't get back onside with the millions of older voters, then they are toast.

[claig]

"The only politician whose views chime with the liberal young is the hedonistic mayor of London, Boris Johnson."

And all the clowning by Boris won't cut it. These are serious times and the voters spoke at the local elections. If the Economist is calling on the young to save the Tories and thinks that hedonistic Boris is the answer, then they don't understand the public mood at all.

[ghayes]

Parties will have to change to reflect people's views. There's no point in sticking to policies that people don't want anymore.

[ttosca]

Startail

If you've worked hard at school from your SATs in Y6, in a way we certainly didn't, you are going to resent those of your peers who didn't work and think they can claim the dole, become single mothers or similar things.

What on earth are you talking about?

If you have/will have student debts your going to want to hang on to every penny you can.

If you actually thought about it, you would realise that economic liberalism is part of the reason you have massive student debts in the first place. So instead of arguing for lower taxation to help pay off your £9000 student fees, you would be arguing for free education, so you wouldn't be saddled with a lifetime of debt in the first place.

[Startail]

Get real, DCs aren't that stupid.

No party is going to return to free Higher Education.