Welcome to what will be the first of many blogs to come. I’m Dan Johnson; I’m 20 and have been involved with the Labour Party for 6 years now. I will be blogging on a whole range of issues which effect young people and also giving a Labour Party perspective as a young member.
Recently we saw the release of figures showing that University applications from students who live in the North East have fallen more than 14%. Once again the North East is being hit hard by the Tory/LibDem policies in the Coalition. Under Labour the proportion of university entrants from the poorest households rose dramatically, but now it seems to be falling.
The huge rises in tuition fees, coupled with the scrapping of Educational Maintenance Allowance – for 16 – 18 year olds – and the Future Jobs Fund has created a toxic situation for young people. It is often too costly to remain in education but with few jobs being created and many jobs being axed, opportunities are few and far between for our generation.
The tripling of tuition fees will make people think much harder about whether they can afford university, meaning talented students will opt out so they don’t find themselves with up to £40000 of debt.
It’s clear to me that the coalition don’t care about young people, which is why Labour are working so hard to come up with plans to help the next generation of workers gain the skills they need to succeed, and to give them the opportunities they need to grow.
What do you think?
– Dan Johnson