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UK election: was it the youth vote?

The results of the general election are in - but what do they mean? Did more young people vote than expected?

Against expectations, the UK’s Labour party gained a number of seats in the recent General Election. On the news and on social media it has been reported that it was due to a young voters going to the polls in bigger numbers than in previous elections. Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn is being hailed for this success due to his popular policies such as scrapping university tuition fees. But what is the evidence that young people turned out in bigger numbers than usual? In recent decades the turnout among those under 25 in the UK has been very low – could this have changed?

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Tue 20 Jun 2017 01:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 19 Jun 2017 12:50GMT
  • Tue 20 Jun 2017 01:50GMT

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