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Vicky Phillips

Vicky loves books, TV and Radio 4. She tries hard to keep up with current affairs but is easily distracted by anything vaguely funny. She's obsessed with comedy and goes to see stand-up shows as often as she can afford to.

Vicky isn't convinced that her peers don't care about politics, so why then don't more young people vote? She's fed up of hearing excuses.

If you were to ask the average person in the street their opinion on young people, it's likely their answer would be unfavourable. Every generation seems to believe that the 'youth of today' is so much worse than it once was; lazier, more aggressive and less socially aware. While I believe that much of this stereotype is unfair, I would have to agree that as a generation we are far more apathetic than previous generations.

Obviously we can't vote until we are 18, but this shouldn't be an excuse to be ignorant of our local and national politics. To take no interest until you're 18 will only lead to an uninformed vote when you are able to cast it. The main problem however, is not just that Britain's young people are ill-informed, but that they are simply not using their vote.

Since 1997, when the overall electoral turnout was 71.4% the number of voters has plummeted. In 2001 voting figures were the lowest for 56 years with only 59.4% of the population voting.

In terms of young people, the percentages really are shockingly low, with only 39% of 18 to 24 year-olds voting in 2001. Contrary to the improving figures for the general population, this figure fell to 37% in 2005. In fact, the lower your age, the less likely you are to vote.

So are we to assume that 63% of young people don't care what happens in Britain, or how Britain acts internationally? How can this be acceptable? I refuse to believe that people have no political stance. I'm sure that if we were to ask random young people their views on, for example, university fees, Britain's role in Iraq, immigration, or the EU, not one of them would fail to form at least one opinion. They may not have a view on everything, but there would be something they care enough about to say "This is what I think."

Nowadays there are many ways now in which to express your opinion, even the media wants to know 'your story'. However if you are part of the majority, a non-voting 18 to 24 year-old, you shouldn't complain about a single decision made by the Government; what you think doesn't matter if you are unwilling to make it known when it really counts. Your opinion on anything remotely related to politics has been made void by your own inaction.

"The candidates that are standing in your constituency may hold views that are very different from one another and opinions that differ from the party that they represent."

A problem caused by this apathy is the way in which politicians try to reach out to these non-voters. They naturally try to focus on matters that have mass appeal, but in doing this they ignore other issues that are just as important. Politicians should make an attempt to inform the uninformed and stimulate the social conscience - not simply highlight the issues we're already aware of.

Politicians have a social responsibility. We aren't voting for a celebrity to win a reality show, we're voting for someone to act as our representative and therefore it's their policies that are important and that's why we must take an interest. We must insist on being informed. It may be human nature to focus on the issues that affect us directly, but we must be open to hearing about wider issues and new ideas.

Finally, to those of you who say you don't vote because it doesn't make a difference: you are wrong. Yes, it often appears that the three major parties are converging in the centre of politics, but there are issues that they differ on. The candidates that are standing in your constituency may hold views that are very different from one another and opinions that differ from the party that they represent.

And then there are the smaller parties and independents - to vote for them is not a wasted vote. They may not enjoy the same profile but, if elected, they still have the same opportunity to make their view heard in Parliament, and they can be more influential than their numbers suggest.

Each parliamentary candidate has a voice; it's up to us to decide who should be heard. We can't be apathetic any longer; we have to think of society, we have to make our views known, and we must use our democratic right to vote. If we don't we risk living up to the stereotype of a generation who is ignorant and socially unaware - and God forbid we let our parents be right about that.

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