AS A FIRST TIME VOTER ...

This blog post is slightly different for me - but is a post that is immensely important. You'll know that the UK General Election is this Thursday (if you didn't know that, where have you been living for the past couple of months?) and this leaves the population with a huge decision to make. This is the first election in which I, and thousands of my peers, can officially vote.

(Not my image)

It's a controversial topic - as is always the case with politics. As a generation, young people, today's first time voters, are so passionate and dedicated to making a change and that's an incredible dedication to have. A lot of people have conflicting views, no matter what their background, and that's what makes it a difficult topic to discuss - I'm not going to sit here and preach Labour views but at the same time I'm not going to sit and preach Conservative views, nor am I going to preach Liberal Democrat views, or Green Party views and so on. That's partly because, at the time of writing this post, I am unsure of my political stance - and that's okay. It's also because it would be wrong to impose such views on other people.

It's baffling to me how much abuse (if that's the correct term) myself and some of my peers have received for not immediately confirming who we are voting for. It's a common misconception that if you don't instantly say 'I'm voting Labour' or if you very slightly hesitate when asked what your preferred party is that you are voting Conservative and it's become clear to me that, particularly amongst young people in my area, people feel the need to ridicule anyone who even considers not voting Labour. Yes, I understand the benefits in voting Labour but I also understand the disadvantages in voting Labour. And the same goes for voting Conservative, and the Liberal Democrats, and so on. At the end of the day, who you choose to vote for is your personal choice, based on your own opinion and that should not concern anybody other than yourself.

I'll admit, I was extremely conflicted as to whether or not to actually post this but as a first time voter, this election is kind of a big deal for me. Who we, as a society, choose to vote for on Thursday has an, understandably, huge impact on our future and, honestly, I am so incredibly proud to be a part of a generation that cares so much. No matter who you vote for, please VOTE.