Harry Curtis is the Chairman of Stevenage Young Conservatives and County Council candidate for Bedwell.
At the general election, many star eyed and ambitious young boys and girls were hopelessly slogging through the trenches of their constituencies with a hundred plus leaflets grasped in the pits of their arms, fighting for a better future.
Yet now, many YCs will be underground until May. With no elections there’s nothing for us to do; as we YCs are so few and far between, we are disconnected until the next conference or the next big event in a city near us. In a sense, we are like one great big, disconnected family that only sees each other at conference!
That must change: we must breathe life back into Young Conservatives.
We must begin with a greater enthusiasm from head office. There is a culture across the party (and many members will agree with me on this) that YCs are essentially viewed by some as canvass-fodder. For readers who do not understand the term, this translated means that YCs are primarily used to deliver leaflets and knock on doors.
Now, this is not a bad thing – in fact we need more YCs doing this, but not in the fashion that our importance is only recognised in election times. I for one love campaigning and believe it is one of the best things of being a member of the party.
However, it is insulting that YCs are snubbed for employment opportunities over Big Six university grads who are not conservative in any sense. To counteract this, we must work with our 121 MPs and head office to establish a work experience programme made for Conservatives, by Conservatives!
To put it plainly, we must create something new that rewards our own. If the Conservative Party cannot look after its own young people, how on earth are we supposed to attract younger voters, (18-24) more of whom voted Reform than Tory?
Robert Jenrick said at the GB news husting that one in six of our voters from the last general election will die before the next one. If we do not change, if we do not offer young (small c) conservatives something that nobody else will, we will be in a worse state than we are now.
We also need to have more representation at area level, and on general canvassing literature. Many shy young Tories are only shy because they don’t know anything about their local association and their YC branch. As YC chairman in Stevenage, I know for a fact that there are shy conservatives out there, but there is a sense of hostility about being a Young Conservative.
Ultimately, it still comes down to a cultural thing. At least in my experience of being a YC in the suburbs of Stevenage, many young people believe that to be a tory means that you are automatically a descendent of the aristocracy, or own a wardrobe that consists of a different suit, shirt and tie for the day of the week.
Nigel Farage made in-roads with the younger vote with his Spotify playlist of Farage’s Brexit bangers and embracing pub culture, whereas we haven’t really given anything for young people to cling onto. Instead, we announced a poorly-thought-through national service policy that panicked young people to think that they were going to be shipped off to the army.
Hence, it would be great if YC’s has some form of area social events, where we can change the dynamic of yearly drinks at conference and build connections more frequently. One of the great things about our country is that wherever you are, infrastructure deems you are not a million miles away from a major city or large town; we need to use this to our advantage and re-connect the Young Conservatives with each other beyond Linkedin.
Regardless of the general election result, if you account for turnout and the way younger people voted then it would be a fair comment to make that the political tide in this country is turning. More young people are becoming sceptical of Labour, the socialist drum is losing its tune, and it’s our time to capitalise on it.
If we do not focus on younger voters, on the other hand, then we are toast. Let’s get ahead of this political current before it sucks us under. Let’s breathe life into the Young Conservatives once again.
