Hodge: Politicians must change to engage young people

Tuesday, 18 January 2005 12:00 AM

Young people are disconnected from politics not because they lack interest but because of the way politicians go about their business, Children's Minister Margaret Hodge said today.

In a new report entitled 'Give us a chance' Barnardo's examined the thoughts of 130 children from across the UK and found they articulated "powerful", "considered" and "reasonable" views about the problems and difficulties of living in Britain.

But it found that youngsters were more interested in single issues such as drugs and alcohol abuse, bullying and the environment rather than party politics at Westminster.

Speaking at the launch Ms Hodge insisted young people were passionate about "a whole lot of issues that matter to us.

"What they are turned off by is the way we do our politics. It's not that young people have to change or that we need to be worried about their lack of engagement. It's we who have to change."

She also lamented the image that wider society had of teenagers. Although they made a "huge" contribution to public life, they were seen by society as troublemakers and yobs.

A green paper on youth policy was nearly ready, she said, and would go some way to redressing this problem.

However, Ms Hodge said that in some respects the younger generation was treated better now than it had been in the past. 30 years ago, youth policies would never have been mentioned, but now the major political parties were all competing to find the best agenda for young people and their families.

She told her audience, which included many under-20s: "Your voice is being heard much, much better than it was before."

As examples, she cited the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's decision to get children help design the new lottery, and the Treasury's new children's budget group.

Even more "exciting" was the forthcoming appointment of a Children's Commissioner for England, expected in February. The appointment would help ensure the voice of youth was "at the heart of everything we do", she said.

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