Cabinet ministers hail 'kick up the arse' for Tories after report reveals plummeting support among young
2 min read
A damning report that lays bare the plummeting support for the Tories among young people is a “kick up the arse” for the party, Cabinet ministers have said.
The study by the Onward think tank found the “tipping point” age at which voters were more likely to vote Conservative had risen to 51 - up from 47 at the snap general election just two years ago.
And it said older Brits who vote Conservative out of habit will not be replaced by younger people as they grow up - leaving a “massive ticking time bomb” waiting to hit the party at the ballot box.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt agreed the Tories must act to stop support among the younger generations continuing to slide.
Ms Mordaunt said the report was a “kick up the arse” at a report launch event in Parliament today and Mr Hancock agreed.
He said: “Voting Conservative used to be something people started to think about doing when they got their first paycheck and now it’s something people start to do when they get their first winter fuel allowance.”
He added: "We have got to sound like we actually like this country. We have got to be patriots of the Britain of now and not the Britain of 1940."
Mr Hancock warned the Conservatives would be "finished" if the party continued to obsess about Brexit.
Ms Mordaunt meanwhile issued a veiled swipe at Theresa May when she said the current Goverment found it easier to set up "roundtables" to discuss policy instead of acting.
Elsewhere, Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat said the party could end up in “real trouble” unless it addresses the issue of appealing to younger voters.
The Onward report found a number of factors that could be driving support for Labour among the young, including their ethnic background and their views on housing and the economy.
It concluded that the Conservatives must tack closer to the centre ground on the economy and social issues, make young people materially better off and boost support among BME people and women.
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