Teenagers in Essex encouraged to take an interest in politics
It’s as new research finds most young people cannot name their local MP
A 17-year-old from Essex is encouraging other young people to take an interest in politics.
New research found one in four children get their political information from YouTube, while one in five sees it on TikTok.
Around 2,000 eight to 17-year-olds were asked about their political awareness as part of a coalition which is holding a children's vote ahead of the General Election.
The polling, carried out earlier this year before the election was called, found that 70% of young people surveyed did not know the name of their local MP and half could not say which political party their MP belonged to.
Almost 40% of young people said they do not understand what politicians do, the research findings suggested.
Caleb Lucibello-Goodman is a member of the Young Essex Assembly - an elected youth council for the county.
He believes young people should stay informed because government policies affect them too.
Caleb said: “With issues that affect young people, they deserve to have a say in it because, at the end of the day, those decisions are affecting them, and they'll have to live with those decisions. So, it's important for them to have an input so policies are more suited for them.”
He continued: “Most of the things that I see on YouTube or TikTok are accurate sources of information. But there's only so much detail you can get into a 30 second video and it's nowhere near the same as actually watching the news. Although young people would be a bit informed if they watched TikTok and YouTube, they wouldn't be as informed as they should be.
“At the end of the day, the better-informed young people are, the more they can have a say in policies. Every young person is affected by politics and it's important for young people to know about it. Young people cannot make change in politics unless they know about it. A good knowledge of politics, will help young people as they get older, as they can put forward their votes and continue their input into the decisions that affect the most.”
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