Torytruth

BASILDON BOY

...The average age of a tory member is just one year older than that of a Labour member. I wonder what the average age of a UKIP member is.

All parties have a big problem getting young people involved. With lives to lead, kids to bring up and mortgages to pay - getting involved in politics is a luxury few can really afford.....

.....now what ever did happened to the UKIP Youth Wing?

Aardvark

UKIP can't have a youth wing because it won't get any support from Head Office.

This, like the Tories and Labour, is a party of the old. At 48 I was the youngest person campaigning for me during the GE.

I have a house full of teenagers on a regular basis. None of them is even vaguely interested in local politics. Even the girl studying politics A-level doesn't get involved. My daughter might get interested at some time, but she has been to several election counts with me and understands how we get elected, or not, as the case may be. I took her to our town council, where I sit as an elected Independent (second youngest councillor at 49), and she was appalled at the attitude of the older members towards teenagers. I pointed out that they can say or do what they like since the teenagers don't vote. At least my daughter voted in May (for me I hope :wink: ).

Younger people are cynical. The electoral process is fine, but since the introduction of the cabinet system even ruling parties are having problems getting candidates for safe seats. Why be a councillor if you get to vote once for the leader, he appoints the cabinet and you vote as you're told for 4 years!!!

Britannist

It is the pro-euro Labour regime and Campbell's Fiberal Dims who are declining and losing the most members (I am pleased to say).

The simple fact is that if a party has a membership whose average age is 66 - then when those people get older, all that happens is that a new lot of 66 year olds join up.

The Conservative Party membership is now more than that of the Labour Party and the europhile Liberal Dims combined. The Fiberal Dims are down from 90, 000 to 76, 000 members (if not less) and Blair's Lie-bour has slumped from 406, 000 in 1997 to 198, 000 now (plus a massive overdraft).

It is the europhile Labour and Liberal Dim parties which have the main problem in losing members. Good :twisted: .

On the question of party activists (mentioned above) - I saw a programme presented by Peter Hitchens (the anti-EU columnist who is highly critical of all parties) in which he said that Labour and the Conservatives would ultimately have very few members at all and doorstep campaigning would be largely replaced by targeting 'key' voters in marginal seats and communicating with them by post and telephone.