I was 14 when the UK voted to leave the EU. Too young to vote, but not too young to understand that a decision was being made that would affect the rest of my life.
In many ways, Brexit was my political awakening. It taught me that politics matters, because decisions made by people in power can change your future before you’ve even been given a say.
Ten years later, my generation is living with that decision. We lost the automatic right to live, work and study freely across 27 other countries. Opportunities previous generations took for granted are now more complicated, more expensive or completely out of reach. But with a new prime minister who has a recorded history of stating that we should rejoin the EU, perhaps we can start to hope.
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If you have money, many of these barriers can be overcome. You are better able to cope with the extra costs, paperwork and bureaucracy involved in moving abroad. Someone from a wealthy family can afford more expensive routes to studying or living overseas. But what about everyone else?
Freedom of movement wasn’t just a nice perk for people who could already afford to travel. For working-class young people like me, it meant opportunity. It was the possibility of studying in Paris, working in Berlin, or falling in love in Barcelona and building a life there. It was about experiencing different cultures, learning languages and feeling part of something bigger.
Young people are already facing a difficult economic future. Housing is increasingly unaffordable, wages haven’t kept pace with costs and many of us wonder whether we’ll ever have the security our parents got to enjoy. The median income for those aged 25 and under has not increased for two decades. We are becoming the first generation in modern times to seriously contemplate having less than our parents.
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Brexit didn’t create all of these problems. But putting up economic barriers against our largest neighbouring market certainly hasn’t helped. We were told Brexit would create opportunities. For many working-class young people, it did the opposite. I think often of my friend: a British citizen who married a German, only to face endless challenges just so they could live together. And countless young people in creative industries have had their careers stifled through lack of access to the continent.
This is why Andy Burnham’s approach to Europe is so important.
The prime minister must start removing some of the walls Brexit put up. Make it easier for young people to study and work in Europe, restore opportunities for musicians, artists and young creatives, and make sure those opportunities aren’t reserved for people wealthy enough to pay their way around the obstacles.
But closer ties aren’t enough. My generation wants the UK to rejoin the EU. So my message to Burnham is simple: be brave.
Don’t become another prime minister whose time in office is cut short trying to find another way to make Brexit work. My generation didn’t get a vote last time. Give us one now and I believe we’ll vote for our future in Europe. And this time, give 16- and 17-year-olds a vote too. If they’re old enough to live with the consequences of a decision for the rest of their lives, they’re old enough to have a say in it.
We young people have grown up connected to the rest of Europe and the world. We don’t see someone in France, Germany, Poland or Spain as being on the other side of some great divide. They’re our friends, colleagues and partners.
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Politicians worry about young people becoming disengaged from politics. Perhaps they should ask why.
Imagine being told at 14 you’re too young to have a say in one of the biggest political decisions in generations, then spending your 20s living with the consequences, while politicians tell you reversing it is impossible or can’t even be discussed. Is it any wonder many people have stopped believing politics can change anything?
That is the test for Burnham’s government. Don’t just tell young people you understand and pat us on the head. Give us a voice and hear us.
In June 2027, the National Rejoin March will return to London. Every host and rally speaker will belong to the generation that was too young to vote in 2016. We were the silenced generation. For 10 years, we’ve heard what those who voted in 2016 wanted. It’s time to hear from those who couldn’t vote then.
We can’t change the fact that we didn’t have a voice in 2016. But we’re adults now. We can vote. We can march. And we can demand something better. We don’t intend to stay silent.
