On 4 July a general election will take place where adults will have their chance to cast a vote and have their say on who they would like to form the next government. If you’re under 18 you don’t get to vote, but it doesn’t mean your voice won’t be heard. Thousands of young people have been able to vote in the Our Generation. Our Vote. election, so this week we’re taking a look at the results to see what young people want from the government. 

Labour come out on top

The Labour Party received the most votes overall, with 31.8% of the vote, but the Green Party came a close second with 29.5%. That would make your new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party.

Big wins for the Greens

The Green Party won big – coming either top or second in every area. This is a big contrast to the results of the 2019 general election, where the Green Party took just 2.7% of the overall vote.

Conservative disappointment

Reform UK beat the Conservatives in every region, except one, where they drew. This comes as a surprise, as the Conservatives have been running the government now for over 13 years and typically they are one of the two main political parties in the UK.

Reform UK is a relatively new party that formed after the Brexit Party was renamed in 2021.

Spoilt ballots

Over 665 of the ballots were spoilt. This is when your vote is either accidentally or intentionally ruined. In an election a voter might choose to spoil their ballot as a kind of protest against the choice available. Or it might happen unintentionally if a voter makes a mistake, such as marking two candidates instead of one.

Where did the votes come from?

The mock general election welcomed votes from children of all different ages. Almost 30% of votes were cast by primary school children, around 43% came from secondary school children, and a quarter of votes were cast by children in mixed/unknown groups.

Only around 37% of young voters said they had previously had any education in politics, showing the
need for young people to have opportunities to engage in politics and have their voices heard.

You can check out the full results show in FYI here…