Unboxing the Ballot: Young voters and election fatigue

From Brexit to gender self-identification, Scotland is often found resisting prevailing attitudes in English politics. The 2016 EU referendum saw the majority of Scots vote to remain (62% to 38%); meanwhile the last general election saw the Conservatives take only six seats in Scotland, with the SNP taking 48. Despite this, Scotland still left the EU with the rest of the UK, and the country has been drastically affected by Conservative policies of austerity. 

With a general election right around the corner, I spoke to young adults living in Scotland about their feelings towards the state of Westminster’s politics. For some young people, like Urban Planning student Gregor, 25, there is still some hope for mainstream politics. “The SNP for me right now is more for Scotland than Labour is,” he says. For Gregor, attitudes towards Scotland from Westminster are rarely even expressed. “As I started to try and consume news channels and figure out what actually goes on in Westminster… there's nothing, there's nothing about Scotland.” When parliament treats England as the most important – and often only – country in Britain, it’s no wonder that Scottish voters feel sidelined by Westminster politics.  

Although, in Gregor’s view, both major English parties “don’t have much of an interest in Scotland”, the SNP offers a route for Scotland to govern itself in accordance with its population’s political views. However, some are unconvinced even with the SNP’s Scotland-focused campaign. 

James*, 26, a chef in Edinburgh’s New Town, says, “I usually vote Green. It's not a party I’m hugely behind, but… they're the best out of the bunch.” For young voters looking for radical change in housing policy, energy infrastructure, and wealth inequality, the Green Party appears to be the only option – but with their minority position in parliament, a vote for progressive action often feels like a vote wasted. 

A general dissatisfaction with party politics was echoed by others I spoke to. “I think democracy works. I think that it's good to give people a say. I just think it's more a question of ‘is the political system we interact with now – can we call that democracy?’ I would say we probably can't,” says Miranda*, 24, a bartender and postgrad student in Edinburgh’s Old Town. 

Alongside standard media corruption, this distrust in the UK’s democratic process partly stems from the continued electoral victories for a party that has delivered us five Prime Ministers (two of whom were never actually elected in the first place) in the last 14 years. Additionally, the Conservatives have done nothing to tackle the skyrocketing rents and spiralling living costs that continue to make it harder for young people to start their lives. As Miranda notes, “The precarity of the economy at the moment is such a damaging thing on so many young people.” 

This sentiment is perhaps most prominent with regards to housing. “I feel pretty hopeless in front of housing,” says Gregor. Despite the SNP’s attempts to limit unaffordable housing with a rent increase limit that ended in March of this year, rent in the Lothian counties has, according to the ONS, increased by at least 15% over the last year. When the county’s average rent for a two bed flat is sitting at £1,247 per month – not cheap even when split with a flatmate  – what hope do young renters have when trying to save for a deposit? 

Outside of the country’s economic downturn, other issues remain pertinent to younger voters. The UK has seen people of all ages taking to the streets and university campuses in protest of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Both the Labour and Conservative parties have neglected to take a strong position against Benjamin Netanyahu’s military action in Palestine, a fact that many young people will not forget. “I think that people are going to continue to be more politically active and the major parties do need to figure out a way to respond to this because it's not going to be going away,” says Miranda, regarding mainstream apathy to Gaza. While Palestinians are subjected to horrific conditions and a number of elected MPs across the UK refuse to take meaningful action, the ballot box can seem somewhat redundant. Instead, Edinburgh’s voters – of all ages – have taken action via encampments and hunger strikes outside Holyrood and inside the University of Edinburgh’s Old College.

So where does this leave us? With both major Westminster parties deeply unpopular with young voters in Scotland, are there any alternatives to backing the mainstream? Gregor hopes to “get involved with boots on the ground” SNP party organising, using his education in urban planning to try to make a difference to people’s lives. For others, like Miranda, “getting more involved with direct action” is a more effective path to take when voting for either major party yields little action. 

However you feel about Scotland’s political future, it’s clear that there is dissatisfaction among younger voters. But there is still a desire to impact the world in a meaningful way. Whether through the use of skills gained via education, local advocacy, or direct action, the young people I spoke with seemed determined to have their voices heard.

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*Names have been changed for anonymity