Issue 273 Friday 7th March 2014 www.epigram.org.uk University of Bristol Independent Student Newspaper
Disillusioned?
• 75% students do not trust politicians Flickr: Stuck in Customs
• 71% not involved in student politics Sarah Newey Deputy News Editor Laura Jacklin News Editor While 80% of Bristol students say they care about politics, 75% do not trust politicians, a survey by Epigram has revealed. Furthermore, when it comes to politics at university, 71% of respondents to the survey have never been involved in democracy at the University of Bristol. There has been a lot of discussion surrounding young peoples’ involvement in politics in recent years. In the last general election, only 44% of people aged 18-24 voted - contrasting to about 68% in 1997. Although many political commentators have described this as apathy, as Epigram’s survey reveals it is not so much a lack of interest, but apparent disillusionment with the current political climate. With 75% of the students asked having lost trust in politicians, responses showed that broken promises, scandals and a general feeling that politicians do not identify with the average Briton have pushed young people away from the political arena. Student comments included: ‘Many [politicians] are only interested in furthering their own careers and do not understand the needs of their constituents.’ ‘[Politicians] are guided by short term goals which
means they go back on promises and do not stick to any ideology they might have originally had.’ ‘I would rather a politician stood for what they personally believed in than compromised their beliefs to conform to a party. I find it hard to trust someone that I know to be pushing beliefs that they do not agree with.’ Last November Russell Brand ignited the debate about trust in the political system once more when he appeared on Newsnight. He suggested that the vote is only significant if it had the power to bring about change; because political parties today have become more similar to each other and break promises so regularly, the vote no longer represents this. Epigram’s survey showed that nearly 30% of students asked have not voted when they had the opportunity to do so, again potentially showing disillusionment with the current system and political parties. The case appears to be very much the same when it comes to Bristol’s own student democratic system, with 71% of respondents having never been involved in student politics. The poor turnout at the Annual Members’ Meeting this year arguably reflects this, when fewer than the 1.5% quorate necessary to pass changes were present. This has led to the AMM coming under review at the last Student Council meeting, in order to increase student participation in and awareness of student politics in future years. continued on page 3
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