Corbyn has stirred the youth vote in a way that even Blair could not

We don’t yet have an age breakdown of who voted on Thursday, but from the rise in turnout it seems that it was yoof wot swung it and robbed the Tories of their majority. British general elections have often evolved from contests between parties into battles between two opposing themes or ideas. That of 1964 became modernity versus the grouse moors, 1979 trade unionism versus individualism, 1983 Cold war strength versus unilateral nuclear disarmament. This year was supposed to be the Brexit election yet instead developed into something loosely associated with that but at the same time quite different: 2017 became the inter-generational election.  

Corbyn was never supposed to have had a shout. Way to the left of any Labour leader who had ever won a general election, his economic policies were considered by many to be simply incompatible with the values of the modern, aspirational British population. Hadn’t Tony Blair proved that in order for a left of centre party to win power it is necessary first to denounce socialism – or at least to use that term as a cover for what is really social democracy? Instead, the battle was supposed to be between a Brexit-supporting Conservative government and a self-styled ‘progressive alliance’ of LibDems, Labour’s pro-EU wing, the SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru.      

But now we know: all those whooping youngsters who seemed to surround Jeremy Corbyn wherever he went during the campaign weren’t just Labour activists bussed in to create the illusion of support: Corbyn really has stirred the youth vote in a way that even Blair could not.

Ostensibly, the shift against the Tories during the course of the campaign came from the elderly who were upset by the prospect of having to use the value of their homes to pay for their care costs.