27
ISSUES: Citizenship
Chapter 3: Politics in the UK
Child labour: at what age is it OK to get
children engaged in politics?
It is not until the age of 15 that a majority of people think it is acceptable to have
started encouraging a child to take an interest in politics.
By Matthew Smith
L
ast week a new Momentum-
related group called Momentum
Kids
was
launched.
The
group seeks to increase “children’s
involvement in Momentum and the
labour movement by promoting
political activity that is fun, engaging
and
child-friendly”,
whilst
also
providing childcare for parents and
carers.
Momentum Kids will engage with
children as young as three years old –
activities publicised include imagining
the party your favourite toy might
lead and creating placards for a mock
protest. But is it OK to encourage such
young children to engage with politics?
At what age does the public think it’s
OK for someone to start encouraging a
child to get into politics?
New YouGov research finds that it is
not until the age of 15 that a majority
of people think it is OK to have started
encouraging a child to take an interest
in politics. There is a left/right split,
however, with voters for left-wing
parties more likely to think it is OK
to politically encourage children at
younger ages.
The age by which the majority of Lib
Dem voters think it is OK to have started
politically encouraging children is 13, and
it is 14 for Labour voters. For Conservative
voters, that age is 15, and it is 16 for UKIP
voters.
Left-wing voters are especially more
keen on getting children engaged at
younger ages. Nearly a quarter of Labour
(24%) and Lib Dem (23%) voters think it
is appropriate to have started politically
encouraging a child by the age of ten
(compared to 10% of Conservatives and
8% of Ukippers).
Far fewer voters support getting
children engaged at very young ages.
Momentum Kids itself will look after
children as young as three years old, but
just 3%of Labour voters think that it is OK
to politically encourage kids under the
age of five, compared to 5% of Lib Dems
and a statistical 0% of Conservative/UKIP
supporters.
The reason for left wingers’ enthusiasm
for getting children politically engaged
at a younger age could be because they
tend to be earlier political bloomers
themselves. The majority of Lib Dem
voters say that they had become
politically aware by the age of 16, whilst
the majority of Labour voters reached
this point by the age of 17.
By contrast, the majority of Conservative
voters reached political awareness by the
age of 18, and the majority of UKIP voters
weren’t politically aware until the age of
20.
29 September 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with
kind
permission
from
YouGov. Please visit
co.uk for further information.
© YouGov 2017
Source:YouGovSurveyResults,19–20September2016
Thinking back, at what age do you think you first became aware of politics
and had views on political issues?
Under 5
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Over 21
Not sure
Not applicable
1%
1%
0%
1%
1%
1%
3%
2%
4%
4%
6%
8%
9%
4%
6%
2%
2%
2%
17%
11%
14%
Age
