Being a student under the coalition government has been anything but easy. The cuts and new legislation in place have made students extremely vulnerable. With unemployment rates being over 70,000 for young people, the coalition have failed to keep their promises.
As a young person I have had to deal with the destructive cuts in numerous ways; it is frustrating that the government are not putting anything in place to help people like me. Not all of us can afford to have the luxuries that David Cameron, Nick Clegg and George Osborne have had. The rise of food banks, homelessness and rise of food prices show how this government does not care about the ordinary person. With groups such as young ethnic minorities, unemployment for young black men is 50 per cent.
One if the main issues is the lack of investment in young people from the coalition. They have spent a mindblowing £98mn less this year on young people claiming Job Seeker’s allowance than under the youth guarantee. Cameron and Clegg have not given support and have scrapped legislation that was put by Labour that was working, such as the Future Jobs Fund. This created over 105,000 jobs for young people – yet the government thought it would be a bright idea to scrap it. Labour need to make sure that we young people are never put in this position again. The numerous rallies and protests exhibit the anger and bitterness that young people have towards the government. The tuition fees protest and the Future That Works march are just one of many that have been staged.
Besides this, the rise in tuition fees, the axing of Connexions, the proposed loss of housing benefits for anyone under 25 and the loss of EMA has been extremely detrimental to many young people. Cameron and Clegg has sucked the ambition and hope of thousands of young people. With 93 per cent of young people feeling the coalition is doing nothing for them, Labour is going to need to restore the trust of hundreds of thousands.
The 2015 general election is of vital importance to get young people trusting politics again. The lack of care and support from the coalition just goes to show that it cannot be trusted again. Cameron and Clegg sold dreams to the masses but, when it came to delivering, failed atrociously. Labour will have to restore trust in young people and have policies that they can actually deliver on. What we do not need are more lies but a government that can do the job.
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Mems Ayinla is vice-chair of Kent Young Labour. She tweets @MemsAyinla
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