Labour homes in on the student vote

http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/she-said/2014/sep/29/labour-homes-in-on-the-student-vote

Version 0 of 1.

Freshers weeks have started and the Labour party has its eye on the student vote. A leaked document has revealed that Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, is one of the prime targets in Operation Student Vote. This is a Labour election campaign that will focus on marginal seats in university towns where the student vote could make a big difference and overthrow current MPs.

The word is that the party is working with Youthsight, who specialise in youth polling, and has been tracking student constituencies over the last two years. They have identified eight key marginal university towns which have a big student vote that hasn’t been exercised before and, more importantly, ones that are target Labour seats.

Morgan, who is anti-gay marriage, won her Loughborough seat in 2010 by just 3,744 votes and is one of three Tories on the hit list. Four Lib Dems and one Green in marginals are also in the firing line. Target seats include Norwich South, Lancaster and Fleetwood, Plymouth Sutton and Davenport, Manchester Withington, Brighton Pavilion, Loughborough, Cardiff Central and Cambridge.

The need to galvanise the youth vote is currently greater than ever: the Electoral Commission estimates that 45% of young people between the age of 17 to 24 are registered to vote compared to 96% of pensioners.

The Labour party also fears it could lose millions of voters after the government last year introduced plans to use individual voter register for the 2015 election, as opposed to the current household register, which automatically registers people to vote.

Under the old system, university halls were block registered. This meant that if you were in a hall of residence you were automatically signed up to vote. You’d get your polling card in your pigeon hole and go to the polling station that day. A single canvassing trip might harvest 30 or 40 votes in one go for a politician on the stomp.

Thanks to the coalition, you can’t do that anymore. Now, if you are a student you notify the electoral roll that you are changing address and your vote will follow you to it. The majority of students live a last minute lifestyle in which registering to vote sounds like a chore. Many, probably, won’t bother to get it sorted in time for it to be counted.

In retaliation, the Labour party (shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Ivan Lewis, and Blairites Stephen Twigg and Liam Byrne in particular) has been building relationships with universities and student unions. From the start of this academic year, students will be encouraged to register to vote as part of the enrolment process. The party is also focusing leafleting in student areas and working with student newspapers.

It’s not going to be easy and Ed Miliband and the Labour party have not been doing too well at campaigning so far. His personal ratings are miserable and the recent party political broadcasts were a flop. Nevertheless, some Lib Dem and Tory MPs, including the education secretary, may need to watch their backs. And, as well as that, it might just help students to get their acts together and get registered to vote, whoever it’s for.