University of Manchester student stands in Rusholme election in attempt to galvanise youth vote

By Jonathan Humphries, Rebecca Pocklington & Ian Silvera

A University of Manchester student told MM that he chose to stand in the Rusholme ward in an attempt to galvanise the youth vote.

Pip Moss, a final year student and Independent Party candidate, said that he decided to stand in order to engage younger voters and promote youth issues.

He said that politicians tend to ignore young people and choose to prioritise the grey vote.

He explained his decision to stand and said: “Firstly it was to try and get students involved in politics, the student vote is too low and it means that student issues have fallen down nationally in general.” “In the last elections, students were half as likely as pensioners to vote.”

He added: “Student fees haven’t been treated the way students would have liked and governments don’t fear students voting against them, they do fear pensioners voting against them.”

He is not the only student candidate facing apathy from the electorate, but is determined to try and represent the views of young people.

He said: “We’ve got lots of younger candidates running but unfortunately I don’t think that generates the excitement we would like.”

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