Student politics

Students and the Sutton Trust make their general election views heard

There has been much speculation in the build-up to next month’s general election about the extent to which the student vote will play a part in who forms the next government.

While a perceived surge in turnout among younger voters in 2017 is often given as a reason for the Labour Party’s surprisingly strong showing in that year’s vote, a 2018 analysis by the team of academics behind the British Election Study suggested that the age turnout relationship at the last election looked much like it had for many years. There was, however, a “notable surge in Labour voting among the younger sections of the electorate that did vote”.