Liam Downer-Sanderson is a graduate of Georgetown University and a former local council candidate. This piece is co-authored with his fiancée.
We are a newly engaged couple in our early to mid-twenties—both members of the Conservative Party. But very few people match that description, today. That is a problem.
This past year, our party bled younger voters. In July, the average age a voter was more likely to vote Conservative than Labour shot up to a record 63 years of age. Young voters helped fuel our losses.
That worries us because we have reason to worry for our country’s future, under Labour. Our country is plagued by bursting prisons, crumbling roads, uncontrolled mass migration, an overpriced housing stock, and a healthcare system in a state of septic shock.
But instead of tackling these crises, Sir Keir Starmer is cooking up fresh new tax hikes while spending billions on bumper salary increases for train drivers, taking their annual wages as high as £80k per year.
This country needs leaders who think with the future in mind – not leaders who live for the moment, for the clicks, or for winning elections just to beat the other guy.
All candidates offer something to our Party. But in the mix of platitudes about unity, waffle on growth, and non-plans to stop the boats, Robert Jenrick’s message stood out to us.
His campaign has been trained squarely on solutions driven by conviction. From our vantage point as younger voters, his strong record, his measured demeanor, and his sharp grasp of the core issues make him the best choice for Conservative Party Leader.
Let’s take the three issues that matter most to us: housing, the economy, and immigration. Most young Brits care about these bread and butter issues above all else; we want family homes, well-paying jobs, and a stable country with a proudly British culture. And it’s not a matter of right-wing and left-wing, either: quality of life transcends the noise.
Rob gets this. He avoids labels, tones down drama, and keeps focus on real solutions rooted on conservative values.
Start with housing. During Rob’s tenure as Housing Secretary, more homes were delivered than any year since 1987. He introduced building use reforms to densify our cities and new measures that allowed homeowners to build additional storeys on their properties.
He knows leasehold is outdated and proposes major reforms to the planning system. He’s serious about building the new homes we need, and he is prepared to slash red tape to get the scaffolding up. For us, for all young people, that means the chance to get on the property ladder, and faster.
After the mini budget, our next core task is to restore voters’ trust in our fitness to manage the economy. Rob knows this. He recognizes that we need to shrink the state to suit a lower tax burden. He knows that we need to restore a Britain in which firms can thrive and invest. He’s not afraid to cut the size of the bloated welfare state (which costs 25 per cent of national expenditure) to do so.
He also aims to bring down energy bills by boosting supply from all sources. In real terms, that means more money in our pockets so we can save and invest in our future.
Immigration is a basic worry for young Brits, too. Rob is ready to tackle it head-on. He knows the asylum system is broken, from his time as Immigration Minister. In that role, he cut small boat arrivals by 36%, increased illegal working raids by 70 per cent, and ended the use of over 100 asylum hotels. He worked with his colleagues in the Commons to reform the visa system and cut legal migration in half.
And he’s not been afraid to call out the violence, radicalisation, and sectarianism that have chipped away at our national identity. Rob cares about the kind of country our children and grandchildren will grow up in and he’s prepared to take radical action to get legal and illegal migration under control.
Great leaders keep their word to voters and win their hard-earned respect over many years in office. Our party suffered its biggest drubbing in decades because we failed to keep our word. We are responsible for our loss. But that means that we can reverse it. We can and must show the British people that we are ready to govern.
That will require a strong, focused, and cool-headed Leader. Rob fits the bill. He has paid real thought to our country’s challenges, and his record shows that he can translate this thought into action. His strong style comes with real substance. Winning back our country in 2030 years will require both.
That fight will not be easy. But as a young couple, we know that there is no other choice. We trust Robert Jenrick’s focus on the issues, his record of results, and his clear and calm command of the solutions that this country needs. His combination of discipline and conviction will mark a fresh start for our party, and for Downing Street.
As young voters, we demand a future for the country that we love – one we can believe in. That future begins when Robert Jenrick takes the helm as Leader of the Opposition.
