Labour should take a leaf out of Zohran Mamdani's book and give young people something to vote for

If you’ve been reading the copious amounts of media coverage, then the kids are not alright; they’re ‘alt-right’. Young people who’ve typically tended to skew left are now drifting rightwards. The story goes something like this: rising rents, terrible wages and diminishing economic opportunities have left young people, particularly young men, enraged and disillusioned with the two mainstream political parties.

Enter savvy political actor Nigel Farage. With his brash, no-nonsense talking and unique (in politics at least) form of rizz, he captures the attention of millions on the social media platform TikTok. Laying the groundwork, nefarious influencers like Andrew Tate and endless Tate-like social media grifters have been pumping out for years a fantasy version of masculinity which leans heavily into right-wing ideas and represents a backlash against minor progressive gains that they propagate have punished and shamed men.

Read more:

• Working class and young people are ditching Labour. ‘Aping Reform’ won’t bring them back
• PIP cuts are paused after ‘shambolic’ series of U-turns – but is it enough to rebuild trust in Labour?
• ‘Labour need to be more scared of us than Reform’: Zack Polanski on how the Greens can outflank Farage

Very soon after the 2024 election this was the new narrative was being established: Young people in the UK – especially men – were starting to revolt and we are now witnessing the emergence of ‘Generation Right‘. But while this may make for an interesting news story, how much of this is actually true?

Young men’s flirtations with the right, and even far right is by no means a total non-story. Polling suggested before the election that young men were marginally more likely to vote Reform. Unlike his more stiff counterparts, Farage’s online persona shows him pulling pints, smoking a cheeky cigarette, normally looking buoyant and cheery. Other politicians are desperate to prove their working class credentials (did you know Starmer’s dad was a toolmaker?) but Farage embraces his poshness, donning Barbour jackets and double-breasted suits. He radiates a certain kind of British ‘non-PC’ machismo that for some men feels refreshingly authentic in comparison to the rigid, scripted business-as-usual approach to politics.

And it’s not just about presentation or charisma – the policies and messaging also have some cut through. Reform taps into a viscerally real feeling that Britain is broken and that nothing works – especially if you’re a white straight man. They paint a picture of boats of migrants coming ashore given hotels at the taxpayer’s expense or shady high street Turkish barbers taking away ‘British’ business. The Farage media sphere is adept at exploiting grievances in a way that tells young men in particular they are being replaced, ignored and scammed out of a good life.

But rumours that Reform are capturing young men’s support have been greatly exaggerated. A survey from 19 May show Reform polling at 11% with 18-24 year olds, just 2% more than the election last year and only 4% higher than the Conservatives. Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s support with young people has dropped from 41% to 33% and the Greens have jumped from 18% to 26%. The research suggests that young women and men still hold more progressive views than previous generations. TikTok videos from the social-media literate Nigel Farage aren’t yet producing the earthquake results that justify the continuous media coverage.

Suspiciously, young women’s voting habits have received far less attention. Last year, nearly a quarter of women aged 18-24 voted for the Green Party, twice as many as the young men who voted Reform. Much has been made of the ‘gender divide’ in politics, with the emphasis that men are drifting rightwards, but historical research has shown young women have been consistently moving more towards the left. Young women are likely responding to a worsening economic landscape with a desire to see the wealthy pay more in tax, and have more social housing built.  They’re worried about the climate crisis, alarmed by increasing levels of transphobia, and enraged by the continuing genocide in Gaza. They are likely concerned about the welfare cuts Keir Starmer’s government is planning. Like their male counterparts, they are also deeply disappointed and disillusioned that their hard work simply isn’t paying off.

However, the wider political commentariat seems pretty uncurious about this. Some of that is down to what gets rewarded in our unfit media ecosystem. Stories that defy what we’re used to hearing, or set a new ‘trend’ are easier to sell in papers and on the algorithmic timeline. Most journalists are taught that novelty is a requirement of what counts as ‘news’, so trends that represent a dramatic change are given disproportionate reporting attention. Young men being Reform-curious is a ‘new’ story, but women deepening their progressive politics isn’t seen as unusual so easily gets dismissed as unimportant. It doesn’t fit a male ‘crisis’ narrative that’s far more clickbaity and sensationalist to chuck in a YouTube thumbnail.

The over-interest in Generation Right can also easily lean into sexism. Young men’s political rejections of the left are deemed a logical or strategic response to a failing system, whereas women’s rage veering them further left is more emotional and less serious. Political journalism remains heavily male dominated, which probably doesn’t help provide a more proportionate picture. There’s a reasonable likelihood that these biases actually end up creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that ironically strengthens Reform’s gains with young men.

The exaggeration of Generation Right also seems to be part of a broader problem about whose political views are seen as legitimate grievances worthy of addressing and whose are not. The disinterest in what is actually the majority of young people’s politics mirrors the way many marginalised people’s political views and passions often get dismissed. Socially conservative ‘Red Wall’ voters abandoning the Labour Party in 2019 was taken existentially seriously as an alarm bell the party couldn’t afford to ignore. Fast forward to 2024, where communities of colour voting for independents and the Green Party were ignored at best, or framed as simply disloyal, rather than a legitimate rejection of the status quo.

The Labour government in particular is following a similar pattern of thought, and seems fixated with Reform. It’s aping large aspects of its conservative rhetoric (“we’re becoming an island of strangers”) and even policies, suggesting that they are unconcerned with alienating the majority of young people who are searching for a political home further leftwards, in the vain hope that they make gains with the relatively small group of former Labour voters drifting towards Reform. In doing so, they risk pandering to an almost mythical Generation Right, at the expense of retaining and bolstering their existing base of voters.

Looking forward, there is still a danger of complacency for progressive politics. Young people remain exposed to financial precarity, which can absolutely be a gateway to a different kind of politics. The UK right have made good use of the ‘TikTokification’ of social media – whereby the algorithm is constantly testing users on ‘for you pages’ with content to see how they respond. This means that it’s easier than ever for young people to be exposed and ensconced into political rabbit holes. All social media companies seem to care about is if content keeps them engaged with the app for a bit longer, and extreme, heated or divisive content seems likely to do just that.

American politician Zohran Mamdani’s recent win just across the Atlantic very much suggests young people can still be enticed by bold progressive policies. Slick social communications were an important part of the strategy, but progressive policies that spoke to young people’s real life struggles with housing, food and transport likely drove an unprecedented number of young people to the polls. Generation Right isn’t our current reality in the UK, but Generation Left is not a carte blanche guarantee either. If a better political offer isn’t put on the table, a real political shift may be here before we know it.

Banseka Kayembe is the director and founder of Naked Politics.

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