By Claire Smyth
As the votes are counted, a noticeable number of young faces will be in the crowd of nervous candidates waiting to hear their fate at Hove Town Hall today (Friday 6 May).
For this year’s 21-ward Brighton and Hove City Council election has attracted a significant number of prospective councillors under the age of 30.
Labour’s bid for the St Peter’s and North Laine ward includes 18-year-old Clare Calder – the youngest ever candidate to stand for election in Brighton and Hove.
She is joined in her attempt to win a seat on the 54-member council by fellow party member Harris Fitch, 20, who is standing in Rottingdean Coastal, and Conservative Rob Buckwell, 27, who is contesting Goldsmid.
For the Liberal Democrats, Mark Collins, the 22-year-old candidate in Central Hove, believes that the political apathy often associated with young people is beginning to change.
He said: “It does show how the country has moved on. Even 20 years ago, not many people would expect people my age to be going into politics.
“If they were, they all wore tweed jackets and looked older than their years.
“We’ve got a major problem with apathy, but I think that’s beginning to change in my generation.”
It was the Iraq war which persuaded Mr Collins, and 25-year-old Green councillor Alex Phillips who is standing again in Goldsmid, to get involved in politics.
Mr Collins said: “I felt like they [the Liberal Democrats] were the only party who took a stand. And I liked the fact, as a party member, I could influence decisions.
“When I first decided to stand, I expected people to say that I was much too young and I didn’t have enough experience but actually people have been more positive.
“They’ve been saying ‘it’s good to see someone so young actually taking an interest in doing something for their community, and it’s nice to see a young face in politics’.
“What’s most interesting is that people don’t want to talk about my age, they’re interested to hear what I’ve got to say on the issues they care about.”
At 25, Labour’s Tom French is running in Queen’s Park having already fought in one by-election when Keith Taylor replaced Caroline Lucas as a Green Member of the European Parliament (MEP) last year.
Conservative Robert Németh, 30, is standing in Withdean. He first stood as a council candidate when he was 26.
He said: “This is my third time standing. I stood twice in 2007 and lost twice.
“I don’t think it would be good to get elected really quickly. I think you need to go through a rigorous training process in politics, and nurturing.
“I think in about four or five years of being involved you should be ready. So if you started at 20, you should be ready by 25. I’ve had about eight or nine years of it.”
Allie Cannell, who is standing for the Greens in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, is still at university – in his final year of an economics degree.
And it was on completion of her undergraduate degree last year when Conservative Rachael Bates, 22, began working for MP Mike Weatherley, that she decided to stand herself in this year’s council election.
Mr Németh added: “I suppose when you’re young you’re slightly keener to learn stuff. You’ve got lots of ideas and you see how people tend to get more pessimistic as they get older.
“I think everyone is interested in politics. There’s no one that doesn’t complain about national issues. It’s just they don’t feel they can do anything about it, so they don’t take it to the next level.
“They’ll just talk about it but they won’t do too much. It’s a shame because I don’t think it’s that hard to do stuff.
“If you put your mind to it, and you get involved, it’s really easy in this country. Think about some countries with dictators – just how hard it is there.
“People sometimes don’t realise the power they’ve got.”
* Claire Smyth also writes for Brighton Lite
