The future is ours - Labour's youth manifesto

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Labour has launched a Youth Manifesto with a commitment to votes for 16-17 year olds and an additional £1 billion investment in youth services.

The Tories, and their previous coalition partners, the Lib Dems, have made life harder for young people.

With surging housing prices, stagnating wages, rising student debt, escalating knife crime and a mental health crisis – these are just some of the challenging facing young people after a decade of austerity.

The climate emergency has also created great uncertainty for young people, but the Conservatives have failed to take meaningful action to address the crisis.

In Labour’s Youth Manifesto we have pledged to tackle intergenerational inequality and deliver real change for young people.

The manifesto outlines radical steps to ensure that every young person has the support they need to fulfil their potential and feel secure in their future.

Labour has announced an additional £1 billion in annual revenue expenditure for youth services, twenty times the £50 million previously announced by the government. This will build a properly funded, professionally staffed National Youth Service, and will guarantee every young person has access to local, high-quality youth work.

Labour will double the annual capital expenditure for youth services that the government has committed to, investing an additional £250 million to build up to 500 new youth centres.

Our offer for young people includes:

  • Votes at 16 and automatic voter registration
  • An end to tuition fees and bringing back maintenance grant
  • Free bus travel for under 25s
  • Climate apprenticeship programme for school leavers
  • Banning unpaid internships
  • A Real Living Wage of £10 per hour for everyone over the age of 16
  • Reforming Help to Buy to focus it on first-time buyers on ordinary incomes
  • Doubling the annual spending on children and adolescent mental health services
  • 3,500 qualified counsellors to guarantee every child access to school counsellors
  • Investing in the youth justice system

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