How will you vote?

The General Election 2017 Thursday 8th June A General Election decides the next government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. The UK will elect 650 Members of Parliament. The party with the most MPs will form the Government. The leader of that party will be the Prime Minister. Voting takes place between 7am and 10pm and votes are counted throughout the night. ‘Exit polls’ ask voters how they voted when leaving the polling station throughout Thursday and from 10pm there is a fairly good idea of the result.

Why bother? You are not old enough to vote in this election. Many of you will be old enough to vote in the next General Election, but will you? 43% of 18 to 24 year olds voted in the 2015 election 78% of over 65s voted. That is a difference of almost 2 million votes As approximately 30 million people voted at the last election that is a very significant amount of voters. Many young people are interested in politics but some are not. If two million more young people voted in the election, would issues like education, university tuition fees, affordable housing and low paid insecure jobs be more or less important?

How will you vote? You will have a choice of five parties to vote for. The names of each party is not included. People often vote because of how their parents, friends or neighbours vote. People often vote on personalities – do they like the leader of the party? Think instead about what each party is promising. We will compare your votes to the real General Election result. Next week we will have the results of the whole school and each year group to compare.

You will be given information about these FIVE areas: Each party releases a manifesto. This is the plan they have for government. You will be given information about these FIVE areas: 1 – Brexit – how will Britain leave the European Union? 2 – Economy – how will the government raise money through tax and spend it? 3 – Education – how will the government help schools? 4 – Health and Social Care – plans for the NHS and care for people who need it such as old people? 5 - Foreign Affairs and Defence – spending on the military (including Nuclear weapons) and dealing with terrorism.

What are the Party Policies? On the next 5 slides you will see some different party views on these issues. Write down letters (A-E) from the slides for any political party who you agree with; this should help you decide who to cast your final vote for.

Brexit A - Brexit – Leave the European Union. Reduce migration to tens of thousands each year. B - Brexit – Leave the EU, but make sure Britain can still trade with Europe. Restrict migration but make sure there are enough workers. C - Brexit – Have another vote on leaving the EU once the details of the deal to leave are known. D - Brexit – Refuse to pay money owed to the EU and no immigration for next five years. Bring back blue passports E - Brexit - Have another vote on leaving the EU once the details of the deal to leave are known

Economy A - Economy – Increase the ‘living wage’ to 60% of average earnings. Get 1.5 million houses built by 2022. B - Economy – Raise minimum wage to £10 per hour and abolish zero hour contracts. Make large companies and people earning over £80,000 a year pay more tax. C - Economy – Increase tax on big companies. Make sure government pensions for the over 65s keep up with increasing cost of living. D - Economy – Less tax to be paid for the worst off. Jobs to be advertised to UK citizens first. E - Economy – Introduce a basic income for all and slowly introduce a four day week. A minimum wage of £10 per hour. Introduce a tax on the wealthiest 1% of the country.

Education A - Education – Allow new grammar schools which can select students at age 10. Increase school funding by £4 billion. B - Education – Abolish university tuition fees and give small grants to 16 to 18 year olds attending college. Free school meals for all Primary school children C - Education – Invest £7 billion in schools D - Education – Open a grammar school which can choose its students in every town. E - Education – Scrap university tuition fees and SATs. Provide free universal childcare

Health and social care A - Health and social care – NHS spending to increase by £8 billion over next five years. Old people receiving care at home will have to pay for their own costs. B - Health and social care – Spend £30 billion more on NHS over next 5 years with £8 billion more on social care. C - Health and social care – A small increase in taxes to raise £6 billion a year for spending only on NHS and social care. D - Health and social care – Increase NHS and social care funding by £11 billion a year. E - Health and social care – Make sure all health and dental services are free.

Foreign Affairs and Defence A - Foreign Affairs and Defence – Build new nuclear weapons and invest £178 billion in military equipment over next 10 years B - Foreign Affairs and Defence – Support a new nuclear weapons system. Make foreign affairs about resolving conflict and supporting human rights. C - Foreign Affairs and Defence – Keep the smallest possible amount of nuclear weapons. D - Foreign Affairs and Defence – Increase defence spending and reduce giving money to poor countries. E - Foreign Affairs and Defence – get rid of nuclear weapons. Spend more money on supporting poor countries.

Overall, Which Party Gets Your Vote?

Party A Brexit – Leave the European Union. Reduce migration to tens of thousands each year. Economy – Increase the ‘living wage’ to 60% of average earnings. Get 1.5 million houses built by 2022. Education – Allow new grammar schools which can select students at age 10. Increase school funding by £4 billion. Health and social care – NHS spending to increase by £8 billion over next five years. Old people receiving care at home will have to pay for their own costs. Foreign Affairs and Defence – Build new nuclear weapons and invest £178 billion in military equipment over next 10 years

Party B Brexit – Leave the EU, but make sure Britain can still trade with Europe. Restrict migration but make sure there are enough workers. Economy – Raise minimum wage to £10 per hour and abolish zero hour contracts. Make large companies and people earning over £80,000 a year pay more tax. Education – Abolish university tuition fees and give small grants to 16 to 18 year olds attending college. Free school meals for all Primary school children Health and social care – Spend £30 billion more on NHS over next 5 years with £8 billion more on social care. Foreign Affairs and Defence – Support a new nuclear weapons system. Make foreign affairs about resolving conflict and supporting human rights.

Party C Brexit – Have another vote on leaving the EU once the details of the deal to leave are known. Economy – Increase tax on big companies. Make sure government pensions for the over 65s keep up with increasing cost of living. Education – Invest £7 billion in schools Health and social care – A small increase in taxes to raise £6 billion a year for spending only on NHS and social care. Foreign Affairs and Defence – Keep the smallest possible amount of nuclear weapons.

Party D Brexit – Refuse to pay money owed to the EU and no immigration for next five years. Bring back blue passports Economy – Less tax to be paid for the worst off. Jobs to be advertised to UK citizens first. Education – Open a grammar school which can choose its students in every town. Health and social care – Increase NHS and social care funding by £11 billion a year. Foreign Affairs and Defence – Increase defence spending and reduce giving money to poor countries.

Party E Brexit - Have another vote on leaving the EU once the details of the deal to leave are known Economy – Introduce a basic income for all and slowly introduce a four day week. A minimum wage of £10 per hour. Introduce a tax on the wealthiest 1% of the country. Education – Scrap university tuition fees and SATs. Provide free universal childcare Health and social care – Make sure all health and dental services are free. Foreign Affairs and Defence – get rid of nuclear weapons. Spend more money on supporting poor countries.

Voting Instructions You form tutor will give you a coloured ballot paper to fill in Only tick one box Hand it back to your form tutor They will put it in the ballot box in the staffroom On Friday the votes will be counted Results of the election along with the names of the parties will be published in next week’s form resource