I'm very pleased with the increase in the youth turnout, and bemused by the number of posts and comments I have seen - not just on MN - berating the youth voters as "selfish" and "idiotic" for voting they way they did.
Can't win, can they? If they don't turn out then they're told that they are lazy and have no right to be upset at a result because they didn't bother to get involved. But when they do turn out and make their views known, they're chastised for not voting the way their elders would have preferred. Bonkers, isn't it?
As a PP has pointed out, there will have been a significant number of people in the 'grey' demographic who were turned off by talk of a 'dementia tax' and no guarantees on the continuance of the triple lock. So how exactly is that any different to an 18 year old who takes into consideration tuition fees when they make their mind up?
This is an exciting time for politics. Yes there is uncertainty ahead but Brexit was always going to be a bloody mess, regardless of the outcome. However the engagement of the youth vote will potentially transform the political process in the UK.
Again as a PP pointed out, parties are no longer going to be able to rely on their 'traditional' heartlands. Plenty of Labour voters own houses and therefore don't want a total collapse of the housing market, plenty of younger voters are coming in and challenging if it is fair that they have to be saddled with the bill for triple locked pension benefits, when they have very little hope of ever enjoying the same standard of living themselves...