Ever since Gordon Brown announced the date, the general election on May 6th 2010 has gripped the headlines. Despite the media frenzy, the vast majority of people that I know just won’t vote. A boy studying at my university recently stated ‘I’m just like every other black boy - I don’t vote’. When challenged, he said that him and his friends think all the politicians are ‘waste men’ and that the parties don't represent them.

Sadly, that’s the way it is for a lot of young black people in the UK. They believe that their one vote won’t change anything. The media hasn’t helped matters. It seems like every day there’s a new story on MPs expenses or dubious personal life choices.

Despite the questionable morals of some politicians, this election is an opportunity to stand up and be counted. It’s a chance to take action against the party you really don’t want (cough, cough the BNP!) and show your support for those who might hold a few of your key interests at heart.

A lot of young people have only been eligible to vote for a couple of months and perhaps haven’t even registered yet. Understandably, they may find it difficult to grapple with the notion of politics as a process that they can now influence. Politics plays a key role in society; so holding an informed opinion is a big part of growing up. It’s a way of showing that we’re doing something about the world we live in – taking a stand if we wish to complain or, if we’re happy with the system, voting to keep it that way!

"I’m just like every other black boy - I don’t vote" uni student

Voting in the general elections means you are nominating your councillor and Prime Minister to serve you and your areas needs for four years- until the next election takes place. In particular, I think it is important to think of the sort of government you want a child to be brought up with. Do you still want there to be tax credits for children for instance? (I know some of my friends got their tax credits as pocket money). This is something that will only exist under certain parties such as Labour. The Labour Mayor Ken Livingston bought in free child bus passes. The Conservatives, for example, plan to tackle the gender pay gap, which includes stronger legislation to prevent employers discriminating and better careers guidance for young women and the Liberal Democrat’s plan to give us a right to sack ‘corrupt MPs’ and to earn up to £10,000 without being taxed.

Whatever happens on May 6th, I feel we should at least to do our research leading up to the big day. There’s a lot of propaganda around the election that people are reading on Facebook for instance (how’s that serious research?) and it may not be a good idea to take the line from the Conservative’s simplistic poster campaign ‘I doubled the international debt, vote for me’ either - because, dig deeper, and you’ll discover that that’s not entirely true. A lot of the financial problems Brown is having to deal with are due to the US sub-prime mortgage market (lending people with no savings and poorly paid jobs loads of money to buy houses they couldn’t make payments on) and banks across the world taking bigger and bigger risks with our money – which is largely to blame for the country’s financial capoot. But don’t just take my word for it, check out the party policies for yourself:

• Labour policies
• Liberal Democrats policies
• Conservative policies

Informative programmes such as Question Time and the live 'presidential-style' debates may also be a good starting point; there you’ll see the people behind the policies getting grilled for our benefit. If anything, look at politics as a chance to legitimately challenge authority. For those who have ever faced inquisitions, at the hands of the police, such a mandate should make a welcome change!

Take up the challenge and who knows; the next time someone strikes up a conversation about the election, you’ll be able to share your views. Be sure to throw in a couple of really long words to spice it up, ponder on the repercussions of a hung Parliament and the implications of electoral reform… but whatever you do, be smart and use your vote.

Just for funzies, check out how ‘down to earth and grounded the conservatives are’. Click here

WORDS: KYOMI WADE