Participation in Action: Campaign aims to bring youth views to Brexit negotiations

Provider Undivided

Name Undivided

Nearly six months on since 52 per cent of people voted for the UK to leave the European Union (EU), the government has stated it plans to trigger Article 50 and begin the Brexit process by the end of March 2017.

Despite the decision having profound implications for future generations, there was little mention of young people's issues in the referendum campaign, and 16- and 17-year-olds were barred from voting despite the best efforts of youth organisations to have them participate.

To ensure young people's views are heard on negotiations for the UK to leave the EU, a group of youth activists have launched a nationwide campaign aimed at bringing young people together to outline their priorities for what post-Brexit Britain should look like.

Undivided was launched at the end of October in a bid to engage one million young people aged 13- to 30 from across the UK. It has launched an online "digital platform" where young people can sign up to the campaign and submit a demand that they would like the government to take into consideration during Brexit negotiations.

The campaign group will curate the top 10 demands from submissions and present the findings to parliament in January in a bid to influence the government's decision making.

So far, a total of more than 500 young people have submitted a demand to the campaign group, which is being run by 30 young campaigners from different backgrounds, and who voted to remain, leave or didn't vote in the referendum - with some too young.

Data collected following the referendum found 75 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds backed the remain vote. But Hafsah Dabiri, one of three co-Leaders of Undivided, says that it does not matter where on the political spectrum young people sit, nor how they voted in the referendum, because the campaign is not trying to reverse the Brexit result but instead get young people to put forward a set of collective ideas. "We [co-leaders] come from very different backgrounds and wildly divergent political opinions," Dabiri explains.

"We don't agree on a lot, but what we do agree on is that Brexit has to be made to work for young people, and that the only way to achieve this is for us to be Undivided in our political demands.

"For too long the ideas and voices of young people have been marginalised and ignored by politicians. It is a huge mistake to assume we are too naive or ill-informed to be involved in shaping our own future."

Undivided is targeting young people under 30 because the European definition of a young person is someone aged 15 to 29 and it wants to capture young people's views at different points in their life.

Generation Change, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF), and youth marketing agency Livity+ are among the different youth organisations that have chosen to support Undivided.

The PHF has shown support to the campaign by granting it £300,000, while Livity+ has housed, supported and mentored the 30 young people behind the campaign.

Moira Sinclair, chief executive of PHF, says: "Undivided aims to reach young voices, ensuring they are central in this important national conversation, the outcome of which will have an impact on them for longer than any other group in society. It is only right that they should be heard by policymakers locally and nationally and that their views help to shape the country's response."

Young people can submit their demand by visiting www.weareundivided.co.uk.