Four and a half thousand miles away in Nepal, Gen Z protestors recently brought down their government in just 48 hours, amid roiling anger over corruption and nepotism.
The uprising, led by online influencers harnessing the power of AI and Tik Tok, has sent shockwaves through South Asia.
So, this week on Westminster Insider, host Patrick Baker decides it’s time to look at U.K. politics through the eyes of Gen Z — generally regarded as those born between 1997 and 2012.
Luke Tryl, UK director of polling company More in Common, sheds light on the concerns of a generation that has only ever known constant crisis — from the 2008 financial crash to Brexit paralysis and then the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Gen Z focus group describes what matters to them, and which political parties are grabbing their attention.
Gen Z MPs — Sam Carling, the Labour MP known as the ‘Baby of the House’, Keir Mather, who recently became the youngest Government minister in 200 years, and Lib Dem MP Joshua Reynolds — set out their plans to restore their generation’s faith in mainstream Westminster politics.
‘Your Party’ co-leader Zarah Sultana, which has polled well with young people, speaks to Patrick at a grassroots party meeting in North London, where we hear from Gen Z about their hopes for the future, and why they still back Jeremy Corbyn.
With a big increase in Gen Z men voting for Reform UK, Owain Clatworthy, a 21-year-old Reform UK councillor in Bridgend in Wales, explains why he stood for Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party at such a young age.
And following the recent killing of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a U.S.college campus, Patrick attends his memorial in London to speak to young men inspired by Kirk’s ultra-conservative brand of right-wing politics.
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