Why I Vote' - General Election Talks | Speakers for Schools

Empowering Young Voices: ‘Why I Vote’ General Election Talk Series

Speakers for Schools launched a two-week campaign (#S4SNextGen) ahead of the 2015 General Election to engage young people in politics and democracy – with over 30 of the UK’s leading public figures delivering inspirational talks on the subject of ‘Why I Vote’ in state schools across the country.

Working with polling experts YouGov, we launched the campaign by asking young people living in the UK to tell us what they think about politics and what changes they would like to see. This research has informed the ‘Next Generation Manifesto‘.

Re-watch the launch debate

The key conclusions of the research carried out for the ‘Next Generation Manifesto’:

  1. Return to traditional political campaigning: more face-to-face engagement in schools, colleges, and community centres
  2. Adopt new technologies: drive voting through online and mobile platforms
  3. Be more interactive: allow the public to submit questions online for Prime Minister’s Questions
  4. Use social media better to connect with us
  5. Focus on the issues we most care about: the NHS, tuition fees and equal opportunities
  6. Review the voting system: consider a more proportional system based on total number of votes

Each year Speakers for Schools runs a national talk series in state schools on a topic important to both young people and our speakers — to see more themes and talk series over the years see our Campaigns Page.