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Politics

08th Sep 2018

If only 18-24s voted in the next general election the Tories would not win a single seat

Did you know? The country's divided

Oli Dugmore

Did you know? The country’s divided

If only 18-24s were allowed to vote in the next general election the Conservative party would not win a single seat, according to Election Maps UK.

Using data from a YouGov poll the mapping service depicted a country bathed in red, showing that Labour would win 600 seats if only young people were to vote. The Lib Dems would take 21 and the SNP nine.

As we all know, 2017’s snap election did not return a tidal wave of Momentum candidates flowing over Tory flood defences. Instead we were left with 316 Tories, nudged up to a majority by the DUP.

How that happened may be explained by the corresponding map for over 65s who, as it happens, tend to vote a lot more often than the younger generations.

A resounding 575 seats for the Conservatives, 32 for Labour, 15 for the SNP and seven for the Lib Dems.

The visualisation was created using YouGov data put into electoralcalculus.co.uk.

The map makers told JOE: “People always talk about the growing divides in UK politics, especially among different age groups.

“I wanted a way that my followers and I could visualise the stark differences in political views between the youngest and oldest in our society, and many, including myself, were shocked at just how colossal these differences were.

“I think like most people, I knew there would be a huge gap between young and old, especially considering all the talk of a ‘Youthquake’ after the 2017 general election.

“However, I never expected the differences to be as extreme as they were. It just goes to show how divided this nation is, particularly in the aftermath of Brexit.”