In My View: Florence Eshalomi, MP for Vauxhall

From the cost of living to the housing crisis, a shortage of meaningful jobs and barriers to voting, young people are being let down by the Government. We must not abandon them.

During a debate in the House of Commons last week about the ongoing cost of living crisis, I highlighted the number of issues facing young people trying to build a future.

For decades, British society has functioned on the idea that each generation passes on a better standard of living to the next.

Although this is never easy to achieve and always slower than hoped, this premise has been the bedrock of social progress throughout our modern history. But right now, that fundamental promise to the next generation is no longer true.

I am proud to be the MP for one of the youngest constituencies in the country.

On my visits to schools and youth centres across Vauxhall, I see the passion and ambition that young people have.

From the Lambeth Peer Action Collective, to Peer Power Youth, Lambeth Youth Council, Young People Matter and so many more, youth-led organisations are doing vital work to make our local community a better place.

I had the pleasure of welcoming some of these groups to Parliament to celebrate their work. It was inspiring to see their bold thinking and determination to succeed.

But too many of them told me they feel like politics doesn’t speak to them and the economy is skewed against them. And the sad truth is that they are right.

The Government’s shocking inaction on the economy is leaving young people feeling abandoned, unable to build a future because they are spending every penny they have on just getting through this month.

Home ownership is wildly unrealistic for almost everyone people in their 20s, with no hope of getting a mortgage on their income or having the five-figure-sum saved for a deposit.

The private rental sector has become increasingly unviable as an alternative, as exorbitant rent rises and the prospect of having to compete with hundreds of other bidders for every property freezes more and more people out of the market.

With social housing waiting lists at breaking point because the Government have not built enough affordable homes, many early career constituents simply have nowhere to go.

On top of this, the chronic shortage of graduate employment opportunities, apprenticeships and paid internships pushes many people into low paid, insecure work on zero hours contracts just to earn an income.

But this is no future, and in combination with the housing crisis it is pricing huge numbers of young people out of London altogether.

Our city thrives because of people building their lives here but unless the Government address these enormous barriers facing the next generation, everybody will be worse off.

But this is not just about the economy. It’s also making sure young people can influence the decisions that impact their lives.

The Tories’ chaotic failure to negotiate a pragmatic Brexit deal has left young people without the freedom to travel and access to experiences that previous generations enjoyed, and in an increasingly interconnected world this leaves them with fewer opportunities than those in other countries.

Solving all the issues I’ve mentioned so far will need young people to make their voices heard. But even this is becoming harder for them, because of the Government’s introduction of Voter ID requirements.

This might sound trivial, but the reality is young adults are less likely to have any of the ID deemed acceptable.

We already have a big problem with youth engagement in politics because of many of the problems above, and this will not be helped by making it unnecessarily harder to vote.

Young people instinctively understand the world we live in now better than most older demographics.

But as things stand, their futures will be held back by our failure to give them the opportunities they need to thrive.

By listening to and investing in them today, we will build a better society tomorrow.