General Election 2024 blog by Alice
A General Election 2024 blog
by Girlguiding Cymru assistant chief commissioner Alice Cleave
General Elections are periods of uncertainty but also a time for people to engage with politics and ensure that they have their voice heard. The Election period can also be very confusing and overwhelming for many people, I seem to spend more and more of my time reading the news but still never seem to be up to date. Young people are likely seeing clickbait posts and hearing snippets of conversations about the Election.
Engaging as a young person however, can be more challenging, if you are under the age of 18, you are not eligible to vote but the issues being discussed still impact you. Anyone who has ever spoken to me knows that I am a big advocate for political education , especially for young people. One of the key ways of ensuring that young people engage with politics is too discuss it with them consistently through out their childhood.
Many people turn 18 and are given lots of new responsibilities and rights, but have not been given the enough information to support them.
I believe that politics can be discussed with all of our young members no matter their age, many political ideas can be adapted to be relevant to different sections. Guides and Rangers would probably have a lot to say about the proposed banning of mobile phones in schools. I know a lot of Brownies are very passionate about environmental issues and Rainbows often bring up issues around animals.
Every year my Rainbow unit takes part in Parliament Week activities, so that each year they know a bit more and become a bit more confident about their ideas. If we talk to young people about the General Election in a positive way, highlighting the benefits of engaging in voting, the hope is that when they are older enough they will use their vote to try and bring about change.
We empower girls and young women to know that they can make change, we have a whole theme of the programme based on that idea. That’s what a General Election provides us with, an opportunity to make change and its important that our young members know this. Young members may not be able to vote in the General Election but they can still engage with it. Ask them what they would like to see change, hold your own elections, make posters to show what is important to young people and send them to your local candidates.
The most important thing is not to ignore the General Election, our young members especially Guides and Rangers will be aware that something is happening and they should have the opportunity to discuss it if they wish.
If you want more information about engaging in the election period I have included some links below.
This Girlguiding page has some useful guidance https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/blog/general-election-guidance/
The Politics Project has some great resources to engage young people in the General Election https://www.thepoliticsproject.org.uk/general-election-2024
