So here we are. As the country slices and dices the local election results, which delivered a pounding to the two main parties, minds are now turning to Gen Z and Gen A to decide if they will be the ones to deliver the killer blow to the two main parties in three years time.
Having grown up in a decade of political turmoil and dishonesty – we’re now on our fifth PM in a decade – a declining job market, shrinking economy and spiralling costs are all hitting young people the hardest. Mainstream parties are waking up to the fact that the the 18-35’s, not pensioners with their protected triple-locked pensions, are now the ones who need some urgent attention.
Recently, we have seen Labour making elaborate promises about jobs, support, reorganising higher education and providing much-needed youth resources like clubs and hubs in every community. Similarly, the Conservatives’ 2026 manifesto for young people promises a £5,000 job bonus, the abolishment of stamp duty to help first-time buyers, scrapping student loan interest and an Apprenticeship Guarantee scheme.
The trouble is, when you talk to young people, it is all too little too late. I work with this generation every day and I struggle to find one young adult who thinks the current political system has made even one meaningful and positive change in their lives. And out of this desperation, a hunger for an alternative is growing. There was an early assumption that Zach Polanski’s Green Party was going to “do a Zohran Mamdani” in the 2026 council elections and the hysterical portrayal of the leader in some quarters of the press as a kind of political bogeyman was telling. But, while the Greens made some significant gains, it’s how this generation is relating to Farage’s party that is just as telling.
Young people who are throwing their lot in with Farage’s Reform seem to fall into two camps. Firstly, there are the believers who align with Reform’s narrative around betrayal by Labour and the Conservatives on issues like immigration, crime and the rule of law. Grant, 21 is a passionate Reform and Farage supporter, much to the disappointment of his parents, who are both lifelong Labour supporters.
He explains: “The two main parties have completely betrayed us. Immigration is a mess, we’re seen as a soft touch, people are getting knifed on the streets, the police are more interested in locking people up for saying stuff online than people who commit crimes, and they haven’t done one thing to help people our age.
“I think Farage will sort it out and I think he’ll be able to bring us back to what we used to be. Our parents could buy a house and raise kids on one wage. That’s what we want. It’s not a coincidence that went out the window when we started taking in the rest of the world.”
The second group of young people who are voting for Reform aren’t the Farage-ideologues like Grant, but are simply desperate for change. While some of these types make up Zack Polanski’s new army, others like Sarah, 22, are looking elsewhere for a shake-up. She explains: “Things have gone so wrong for young people, every one of us is living with parents and will probably be until we’re 40 at this rate. There are no jobs, crime is getting worse. I’m not anti-immigration, but no one can deny that the system is a mess. I feel like Farage is an arsehole, but he might be our arsehole. A bit like Trump.”
The belief that mainstream politics has not only not helped young people, but made things worse in every way is so ubiquitous, it’s creating a youthful rage wave that current leaders would do well to take seriously.
Rajesh 21, who’s studying politics at UCL – and voted Green – told me how worried he is about the emotional and ideological climate that exists around his generation currently – something he believes is being underestimated by everyone in charge. “The country is a tinderbox. I’ve never seen so much anger and disillusionment. It’s so close to the exact same political and economic climate that we saw in the 1930s.
“With how the media and social media are, and all the hate, it’s just going to take one guy saying ‘I can fix this and it’s not your fault’ and of course people are going to have their heads turned. I just want to scream at Labour, do one thing for us. Just one. An apprenticeship scheme that works. Cancel tuition fees. Make the Tube affordable for under-30’s. Just one thing. Please.”
The “just one thing” principle, where young people are so desperate for change and help, the small things would make a real difference, is frustratingly simple – and again, something mainstream parties seem to miss.
When young people feel that even the small things aren’t improving, they have zero hope that the bigger things – jobs, childcare, house prices, etc – are ever going to improve and every belief, they will get worse.
In New York, 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani’s age wasn’t the only thing that helped win over the youth vote, his laser focus on making buses free was devastatingly simple and effective too, underlining just how important – and missed – the minutiae of political policy are.
Hallie, 22, who describes herself as “Reform-curious”. She explains, “I’ve lost any hope that politics means anything or cares about anyone. To my mind, Starmer is no better than Farage. The same problems get repeated over and over.
“My generation are skint and scared. I’ll vote for the people who will sort out the economy and Farage has some ideas that aren’t just recycling the same policy. It’s harder to care about other people when no one cares about you – of course our generation is less ‘woke’ now – we don’t have that luxury.”
Elliot Bewick, 20, hosts the Next Generation podcast, one of growing popularity that genuinely tries to reach across the ideological divide. He interviews young, high-profile people of all political stripes from across the world who seek to encourage healthy debate and disagreement.
He has recently moved from the UK to Trump’s USA as he believes opportunity and help for young people in the UK is at an all-time low. He considers the failure of the mainstream parties to help young people is one big reason for the current political fragmentation and youthful attraction to political extremism.
He thinks that young people are used as props for parties when they want power and then inevitably abandoned when they get it, ultimately laying the groundwork for the ascension of “outsider” parties like Reform and the Green Party.
Bewick explains: “Youthful engagement is nothing more than a ploy for power. These people don’t care about fixing young people’s lives or they would have stopped kicking the can down the alley for us to deal with later.”
The major advantage figures like Farage and Polanski have in the eyes of young people is that they are an unknown quantity – which was certainly a major factor that propelled Trump to power in his first term.
Young people know with certainty that their lives haven’t gotten better under Labour and they didn’t after 14 years of Conservative rule, but there is a glimmer of hope that a “new” disruptor on the block might actually change things – disrupt a system that isn’t working. Some young people genuinely like Farage’s hard-line stance over immigration, but more are just desperate for change and are willing to overlook his many shortcomings.
Under Farage’s leadership, we are closer today to a Reform governmentthan ever before and unless the mainstream political parties start to make a material difference to young people’s lives, the more smashing up of politics as we know it there will be. Young people have run out of patience, out of time, and out of trust for the current political status quo and if mainstream leaders want to undermine the promises of political leaders who ride high on what could turn out to be empty promises, they need to deliver on the ground to all young people.
Start with one thing and maybe young people will start to believe the bigger things can be fixed.
