If young people want nice things they need to vote

Let's be honest political parties and politicians only care about people who vote. It's all about getting elected. If you don't vote they don't care about you. They'll tell you they do but it’s the people who vote who get to enjoy the political “sweeties”. I'm always amazed this hasn't proven to be more divisive in our society but it has contributed to a major disengagement and lack of trust in politics and politicians, as evidenced by the rise of a party like UKIP. While I am hugely supportive of the Scottish Parliament, it has basically doled out middle-class benefits for the past 15 years. Why? Because the middle classes vote, and the young and the poorest in our society don't. The annual Institute of Fiscal Studies report on living standards revealed that the fastest growing inequality over the past five years has been between young and old people, not the rich and poor. The rich-poor gap will widen again soon they tell us, but what was striking from that report was that our current generation of 20 something's are doing worse than the generation before them. Yes, the recession has been a factor but I think that the fact they don't vote is an issue too. They don't seize the power of their collective vote to change society and, let's be frank, benefit themselves as well. Gordon Maloney, President of NUS Scotland, made a very telling point to me last week. It's not that young people aren't committed to causes or campaigns and changing things for the better, but it’s just that they don't believe politics changes anything. A sad indictment of the current state of British and Scottish politics and most of us - except those committed to political parties - in our heart of hearts probably agree with them. The referendum campaign has reinvigorated a citizen-led grassroots debate across Scotland but we need to translate that into people voting not just on 18 September but for the forthcoming UK and Scottish elections. If we want to embed that citizen-led democratic renewal, the energy and commitment of Scotland's young people will be vital. My message to Scotland's young people is that if you want to change things and have nice things for yourselves, but more importantly other people and causes in society you care about, you need to vote. It's time to seize the power of your collective voice and votes.