General Election: Parties unveil their youth manifestos

If elected, the Conservatives would establish 150 youth clubs within two years and continue until every community has its own youth facility.

The party would also launch a Club2School programme, offering young people two hours of free after-school sport.

The manifesto, entitled Action for Young People, calls for a new nationwide careers service alongside specialist advice, and a series of campaigns warning of the dangers of binge drinking, drug abuse and unsafe sex.

Shadow youth minister Charles Hendry said: "The manifesto proposes major changes in the way support services for young people are run, as we believe they have not been served adequately by the present government." In Northern Ireland, both Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), which has fielded 25 candidates aged under 30 in Belfast, have launched youth charters as part of their general election manifestos.