Youth turnout was reaction to Brexit verdict

The result was completely at odds with all the predictions of a Tory landslide; the gap closed quite dramatically between the two main protagonists, as the Conservative election campaign led by a wobbly and ambivalent Theresa May faltered and the Labour campaign under an increasingly understood and dynamic Jeremy Corbyn gathered pace. Labour gained a respectable number of seats and, with its allies in Parliament, can now constitute a robust opposition as the Brexit talks get under way.

There will continue to be discussions as to whether the British government is strong and stable for those negotiations, but it remains important to consider, and remember, the role that young people appear to have played in the election result. Not only did they register in force, but, against all kinds of assumptions of apathy and disinterest, they turned out in droves. Where their demographics were strong, they seem to have made the difference.

Prior to the European Union referendum, I argued that the young should vote for what I called "Re-mixit", not to exit but to remain and argue for change. The UK may have voted to leave, but those young people who did vote expressed a clear desire to remain.

When the recent general election was announced, I had an absolute conviction that young people needed to play an even bigger part in the democratic process - and not on the side of the Conservatives. The consequences of government policy for the young since 2010 has been disastrous on many fronts: the decimation of youth work; the contraction of support in formal education; the withdrawal of housing benefit; and the more draconian approaches to unemployment and social security. Some have affected other social groups too, but young people have been disproportionately afflicted.

It has been the European institutions that have acted as some form of buffer zone against these policy discriminations directed at the young, committing to youth work, supporting exchanges and mobility, promoting a youth guarantee to address youth unemployment, campaigning for access to rights and against hate speech and preparing a "solidarity corps". Without those opportunities, that will be diminished following Brexit, but not necessarily abolished. The lives of young people in the UK would be severely impoverished, compounding what is already happening to them back home.

So, there may be the big Brexit issues around access to the single market, the customs union, immigration and security, but, for young people, there are also very important questions about access to, for example, Erasmus Plus and the range of experiential possibilities it confers.

The promises made by Labour for younger people may not materialise, but the election result now holds the promise of a "softer" Brexit, one in which the young will be the most deserving beneficiaries.

Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of South Wales