By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON, Oct 24 (Docklands Wire) – Young people vote less than any other age group but through a teenage mayor with his own £25,000 budget, Lewisham may have engaged the next generation of voters.
A record 49 percent of 11- to 18-year-olds voted in the borough’s fifth annual young-mayor election last week — compared with adult turnout of just 31 percent in 2006 local elections.
“It has demonstrated that if we give young people the opportunity, very significant numbers of them want to get involved,” said Steve Bullock, Lewisham’s adult mayor and the creator of the young mayor role.
“It is not soft stuff, they want to get involved in the big issues. Right across the community people have seen the young mayor as someone they want to have a dialogue with,” he said.
The election was held alongside a national campaign by the Local Government Association to get young people more engaged in politics.
“They are very interested in the issues but don’t always connect those issues with the council. It is about councils showing that when young people can get involved they can make a difference,” said Ben Dudley, project manager for the LGA’s local democracy campaign.
Twenty young people stood in the Lewisham election, which 15-year-old Miguel Gutierrez Astudillo won with 1,705 votes. In his manifesto he said he was inspired to run by students from his school, and wanted to work to reduce violence among young people in the borough.
Election campaigning ran for three weeks and candidates, who are not linked to political parties, posted campaign videos on YouTube.
The young mayor is supported by about 30 young advisers, made up of representatives from community groups such as school councils, and unsuccessful young mayoral candidates.
The group has a budget of £25,000 to spend on measures to improve life for young people in the borough such as youth clubs and safety schemes. They also work with members of parliament and the adult mayor.
“In terms of how seriously young people’s voices are taken it has made an immense difference,” said Malcolm Ball, who works as a full-time adult adviser to the young mayor.
Other East London boroughs have followed Lewisham’s example, with both Tower Hamlets and Newham introducing young mayors. This week Newham voted in its second young mayor, with voter turnout double that of last year.
A polling station in Newham, Oct 22 2008. Photo by Kylie MacLellan
“The youngsters themselves are spreading the word,” said Mayor Bullock. He said the mayor of Newham, Robin Wales, contacted him after a teenager asked Wales why the borough didn’t have a young mayor like Lewisham’s.
MPS OF THE FUTURE?
young democracy advocates hope teen interest in local issues and politics will last into adulthood, helping to combat falling voter turnout. An NOP survey for the Electoral Commission in 2002 estimated that local election turnout was just 11 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds.
The involvement of Lewisham’s young people in politics has already extended beyond both the young mayor scheme and the borough.
Last year former young mayor Wilf Petherbridge chaired a national review on what life is like for today’s teenagers, and presented the findings to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as well as hosting a special youth cabinet where teens quizzed the PM and his ministers.
“I’m sure that some of the young people that have been involved will emerge as standing for council and parliament. It is a bit too early to say but some of them have said they are interested,” Bullock told Docklands Wire.
Lewisham was the first London borough to have an elected young mayor. Anyone aged 14 to 17 who lives, works or studies in the borough can stand as a candidate, and all 11- to 18-year-olds can vote.
