The coalition government can be seen as a result of student voting as the student population’s support for the Liberal Democrats may have made the resulting coalition possible. The student population of Britain is a large one, and one of the main policies of the Conservative Party was the much feared increase in tuition fees. The rise of tuition fees was one of the main election issues facing all current and soon-to-be students before the election was decided and this led to a surprise increase in votes for the Lib Dems (a party who before was not seen as one of the dominating parties in comparison with the main two). Then came the nightmare: it was announced that the Lib Dems would be in coalition with one of the other parties, the Conservatives.
However, as hopeful as this moment was when we thought we had saved Higher Education from the forthcoming burden, we did not take into account other policies that concern the country. Policies such as those on tax, benefits and pensions do not immediately affect a majority of us as we have only just started voting and these policies will only directly affect us in the future. So was the outcome of a coalition government the best outcome for the country at the time, and did we sway the outcome to a coalition government which was both of little benefit to us and to society as a whole? This leads to the even more contentious question: do we have the same right to vote as others not in education, because of our position as economically inactive?
The majority of us are still living at home, not paying taxes, bills, mortgages, or saving for our pensions unlike the majority of the country. Therefore, we are economically inactive, as we are not contributing to the economy through financial means in contrast to the rest of the population. However, for those no longer in education, the election was not just about student fees, but about a wide plethora of issues which are affected by the controlling party. This means that the wrong party can affect both people’s lifestyle and their futures, in ways that won’t concern us. If a person’s pension is reduced they have no means to improve their situation. We as students, on the other hand, have the rest of our lives to improve on any situation caused by the current government, hopefully through future governments rectifying the situation. So should we really have the same right to vote as our working peers?
Already the coalition has disagreed about policies concerning the NHS and Health, causing unrest for people in the NHS. Indeed, such indecisiveness can effect many aspects of the country. Would this have happened if there was a single party in charge? The point that the ministers in Government are in separate parties means they have different ideas on how the country should be run. Perhaps if students didn’t have the vote we may not have had this problem.
Personally, I feel that as the future generation we do have the same right to vote as those no longer in higher education. This is because it is important for us to contribute to the political future of our country, as soon we will also be economically active, and as long as we take into consideration all the policies set by each party, why shouldn’t we have the same opportunity?