General Election 2024: Next government urged to prioritise children as voters go to polls

A poll of almost 300 CYP Now readers finds that 67% of those who responded intend to vote for the Labour Party while 10% will vote Liberal Democrat and just 6% will back the Conservatives.

A further 17% said they would be voting for another partying with some specifying the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Green Party.

• General election 2024: Key party manifesto pledges for the children and young people’s sector

• Children’s charities on issues the next government must prioritise

Ahead of today’s vote (4 July) the three main parties have released their manifestos with key pledges centered around funded childcare, recruitment and retention of teachers, votes at 16 and investment in youth services.

The Labour Party has pledged to build a raft of youth hubs to deter young people from involvement in violent crime while the Conservative Party has promised to renew its expansion of funded childcare and introduce national service for 18- to 25-year-olds.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged “investment” in youth services and youth justice services as well as backing sector calls to make care experience a protected characteristic.

In the lead up to polling day, key sector organisations supporting children and young people have called for improved special educational needs support, expansion of social prescribing to boost youth mental health and investment in health visiting services.

Barnardo’s wants to see a national strategy for social prescribing for young people with mental health issues while the NSPCC says the next government should employ 5,000 additional health visitors in England over five years. 

The National Day Nurseries Association has called for the government to improve funding for early years providers as well as boosting staffing and support for children with additional needs, alongside ending Ofsted single-word judgments, and cutting taxes for childcare organisations.

Meanwhile, Coram has urged the next government to follow the “clear road map” set out in the independent review of children’s social care to reform the system in England.

Action for Children said “major reform of the care system” is needed and called for funding to alleviate the social care placement crisis while some sector leaders want to see an end to “profiteering” from children’s social care.

UK Youth and the National Youth Agency (NYA) are among agencies calling on the next government to implement “a long-term national youth strategy, a dedicated youth minister at cabinet level who works across departments, and long-term, joined-up funding to reverse the £1bn funding cuts over the past decade”.

Writing for CYP Now, young adult carer Hollie Cobb has urged the country’s next leaders to “stop turning a blind eye” to struggles faced by young carers while academic Sally Hogg has said if the Labour Party is successful, it should make an “expansion of health visiting and early education the first steps towards Sure Start 2.0”.

Today’s election comes amid an increase in mental health issues among eight- to 19-year-olds since 2019, a 77% cut in local authority funding for youth services and record numbers of young people entering the care system.

Final projections by YouGov on the election’s outcome suggests 431 seats for Labour, 102 for the Conservatives, 72 for the Liberal Democrats, two for the Greens and three for Reform UK. The SNP would have 18 seats in Scotland, and Plaid Cymru three in Wales.