The Conservative Party has lost support amongst younger voters. Amongst Millennials (voters aged 25 to 40) - my generation - the Party is expected to earn just 21% of the vote. For some months, I have been working with the think tank Onward, looking at why exactly those voters have left us, what their values are and how we can do more to build a Conservative Party and a conservative offering they can support.
Our research showed that ultimately Millennials care about issues that the Conservatives have historically addressed: economic opportunity, secure and affordable housing, the ability to start a family.
I have proposed a number of policy solutions to these problems. For example, building social housing through new garden cities on just 2% of the land owned by the British state would unlock 500,000 new homes - reliable houses for low earners. We should also expand the Help to Buy ISA, supporting young people to save for the deposit on their first home. On tax, we should reduce the tax burden on younger workers, reducing middle rate National Insurance to 7% for the under 40s to put nearly £1,000 per year more into their pockets to pay for a mortgage and a young family.
You can read the report in full here: www.ukonward.com/reports/missing-millennials/.
