Georgia L Gilholy is a freelance journalist.
Blue Beyond, the self-described “largest and longest-serving think tank for young conservatives” recently launched a poll on the state of the Conservative Party. Given the dire state of affairs after fourteen years of Tory governance, I am almost surprised there are any youngsters left in Britain to fill out such a form.
Plummeting living standards, family breakdown, and vast social atomisation exacerbated by Covid policies have made the up-and-coming generations more emotionally and financially fragile. Neither of our main political parties is providing an inspiring alternative vision.
In the first week of General Election campaigning alone the Tories’ have launched a hamfisted off-the-hoof National Service policy pledge and vowed to protect the welfare of millionaire pensioners. Wannabe MPs like Johnny Luk in Milton Keynes have taken to Twitter to whinge about house-building (in a post-war new town of all places) despite openly supporting lax immigration rules. The only thing these people seem certain about is their disdain for long-term policymaking.
The Conservative Party are not wholly to blame for my age group’s woes, but their fourteen years in government mean they’ve had ample part to play. And aside from their pondering on divine justice, these generations are also more likely to share a disdain for our ruling party. Last year’s report from the think tank Onward made grim reading for CCHQ, suggesting that a measly 21 per cent of 25 to 40-year-olds would consider voting for Tory candidates in a general election. Can anyone blame us?
Sebastian Payne was correct that there is an opportunity to persuade them, especially on economic issues. Almost everyone wants lower taxes on their wages, however they might define themselves politically. Pledges to build houses – whatever the short-term NIMBY backlash – and proposing a robust economic model could have helped to improve the Party’s image with younger voters, and given people a reason to trust them again. As it stands, the party’s failures on wages, industry, housing, immigration, and freedom of thought paint a bleak vision of the future.
While conservatism as a tradition offers endless ideas and opportunities, the Conservative Party itself seems to have little interest in anything but power, which includes kowtowing to the Blue Wall gerontocracy. The Tories have plucked phrases like “levelling up” and “northern powerhouse” from thin air to appeal to voters, but have failed to deliver on any cohesive industrial strategy; our economy is beholden to overseas investors, and we are failing to bolster our own wealth.
Full-time working households now earn less than those receiving pensions – and the gap will only grow. As the triple lock does its work, real wages will still be lower in 2026 than they were in 2008. Older generations who have already acquired their assets are often isolated from just how impossible the housing market has become. In the 1970s the average house cost three times the average salary; it is now ten times it.
The Tories have also failed to enact their pledge to abolish the leasehold system, meaning that millions who do manage to get on the housing ladder become trapped in properties that become eye-watering resource sinks they may struggle to sell on.
Successive Housing ministers have complained that “not enough houses are being built” – despite their own department’s failure to meet the promise of 300,000 new homes a year, and the failure to acknowledge that mass immigration could be responsible for a whopping 90 per cent of housing shortfall.
For both the Conservative and Labour parties, the focus has long been more about managing people’s reactions to contentious issues, rather than responding to them with useful policies. Such tinkering can work in the short term, but a political project the next generation can put their hopes in it does not make.
Gross immigration hit 1.2 million last year, and services are not equipped to respond. Whilst many younger voters are more supportive of laxer immigration rules than their elders, the fact remains that unchecked immigration pushes down wages and erodes social trust.
It is also a drain on productivity, with this large flow of unskilled labour incentivising businesses to neglect innovation. Unsurprisingly, the UK is one of the least automated economies in Europe, lagging behind post-communist Slovenia, Slovakia, and Hungary.
On traditional Tory issues like immigration and law and order, Labour is ahead of the Government. There is a strong case to be made that theft and rape have effectively been decriminalised due to plummeting arrest and conviction rates.
How can we plan for the future if we don’t feel secure in the now?
Onward’s Missing Millennials report also suggests younger voters are less interested in so-called culture war issues that ministers seem to relish bombastically intervening in. But even on a culture war crisis of actual urgency, freedom of expression, the Tories have no coherence, with Sunak appointing a “free speech adviser” while the state bangs up people for praying silently or threatening to arrest a man for being “openly Jewish” around anti-Israel demonstrators.
Whinging about “the blob” as a barrier to their plans comes across as lazy and petulant, after having years to enact reforms that could have made their governance more impartial and effective.
Over the past decade or so, young people have been priced out of their dreams of homes and families, and are cut loose from any stake in society. This is not just a dangerous prospect for the Conservative Party at this election but for the nation’s collective welfare. But why would anyone actively vote for something or someone who is failing to address your core needs and vision for the future?
Unfortunately for CCHQ, it is likely to be a while before they have another chance at tackling these issues, if at all. Not only is it unlikely that the Conservatives will gain the support of young Brits come July 4th, but they simply do not deserve it.
