With less than two weeks to go until the election, and with both Labour and the Conservatives at about 34% (all of the time) in the polls, a lot of people need help deciding what’s next. Who should you vote for? Well our Debriefed manifestos do digest some of the main parties’ policies for young women, but help is also on its way in the form of – yes, another leaders’ debate.
This time, it’s the youth leaders who’ve debated for Channel 4’s new All4 streaming service(replacing 4OD). What’s magical about them is, just like you, they’re pretty young. Oh, and they’re not the well-oiled machines their older cohorts are. Well at least, not all of them. To make this all a lot more fun, we’re going to let you guess who they are by the zinger they belted out. Because that’s what politics is all about, right?
We’ll give you the answers after you’ve watched the show, which is on at All4 from 8pm on 28th April and then repeated whenever you want to watch it…
Tuition fees
‘We’d be wrong to pull a Nick Clegg and offer the moon on a stick’
‘47% of people going to university are from underprivileged backgrounds’
‘There’s a difference between not meetig the terms of your manifesto and totally going against it’
Young people’s disillusionment with politics
‘There should be recalls so that Lib Dems and other people who break promises can be removed from Parliament’
‘Politics is not where it should be’
‘75% of seats in this country haven’t changed hands since the war’
‘We had an MP in Parliament before you did!’
‘Is the economic recovery being felt by young people? It’s far-fetched to claim it’s a success’
‘I’m not going to calm down about people using food banks in this country!’
‘Even if you spoil your ballot - though I’d like you to vote [REDACTED], just get out there and vote’
Housing
‘I didn’t even know what [stamp duty] was until, like, 3 days ago!’
(Bonus points if you can guess who speaks over their allotted time to the point the presenter gets their microphone switched off?]
The Cost of Living
‘People go to uni and leave to go and stack shelves. 50% of people in university is too much’
‘The living wage will, if you factor in inflation, mean 15p more per hour. It needs to be set independently by the Living Wage Commission’
‘How about politics becomes honest?’
The NHS
‘You saw the airbrushed photos in 2010. You cannot trust the Tories with the NHS’
‘If you don’t mind mate, you’ve said enough, cheers mate’
‘We’ll offer more provision for mental health, like 24/7 crisis care’
‘Money has been focused on physical rather than mental health’
‘We pledge £650 million to tackling dementia’
‘We’ve already worked hard to abolish prescription charges, which are a tax on the ill’
Immigration
‘We should have a points-based system where we only take skilled migrants, and do thorough previous criminal record checks…people must pay into the pot before they take from it. We’re unique on this but it’s done in other major countries, like China, Canada, Australia.’
‘I’m sick and tired on a debate where the establishment lurches further right. Immigrants are a valuable contribution to our culture and society’
‘We need a humane approach to immigration’
‘Immigration should be celebrated, especially within the NHS which would collapse without it. However the Labour government left diabolical levels of immigration and the NHS and education suffered.’
‘Our policies aren’t based on xenophobic fear or hate-mongering.
We’ll make sure no worker is exploited by bringing the minimum wage up and enforcing it to stop undercutting of local wages’
‘That narrative [of people coming to the UK as ‘health tourists’ for HIV treatment] has no place in our politics’
The EU
‘West Wales and the Valleys are the poorest, most deprived places in Northern Europe’
‘The EU isn’t perfect, real reform needs to be brought about. But being EU citizens makes opportunities for us, especially students’
‘We will negotiate fundamental changes with the EU’
‘UKIP MEPs don’t even turn up [to Europe], they’re milking the expenses beyond belief’
International intervention
‘We want more peaceful approaches. We don’t agree with the wars that have been happening’
‘The Conservative government has intervened in Libya. How did that go?’
‘What other people are saying is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. You can only defend a country with nuclear weapons.’
‘Parents of soldiers in Iraq had to buy boots for them’
‘A whole generation has been turned off of Labour by the Iraq war. We’re not the World Police, we’re not America’
Climate Change
‘Waves are constant, it’s great! But wind does not blow 24/7’
‘It’s bigger than wind turbines, we need to invest in renewable energy!’
*So who said what? Let us know on Twitter @Thedebrief, or check back after the debate for the answers... *
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Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.