Some 100 young people from across the south of England gathered in East London today (Sat) to discuss political engagement.
The conference was organised by London’s Conservative MEP Syed Kamall, who wants his party to embrace what he calls a Youth Reboot.
He has raised concerns about a growing disconnection between young people and Conservatives.
In an article ahead of the conference, he warned that the Conservatives Party needs to understand that younger voters “care more about single issues than party politics and more about fairness than public finance.”
The conference heard from MPs Paul Scully and Justine Greening, as well as a video address from Ben Bradley MP, Conservative Vice Chairman for youth.
Panel discussions and workshops explored how young people can best influence politicians, what the party should do to engage with them and how to build an effective youth movement.
Dr Kamall said: “The key learning point today is that we older activists don’t have all the answers. We need to give younger ones space and opportunity to contribute to policy and influence our direction.”
“We need to give them more platforms for their voices to be heard and to feed into future Conservative policies. That starts with a Youth Reboot, which I hope through events like this conference can lead us to consider developing a Conservative Youth Manifesto.”
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