Election talk
Meet the 18-year-old musician putting politics on the radio
So you’ve registered to vote in the upcoming UK general election. Now comes the big decision that directly effects YOUR future. Still undecided? We’ve asked some of the UK’s creative talents which way they will be voting come 8th June, and why their decision makes sense for the country’s future generations. Hint: SHOW UP and make your vote count.
At just 18-years-old, this is Declan McKenna’s first chance to vote in a general election – and he knows exactly where he’ll be placing his cross. Having become engaged in politics from an early age, the Hertfordshire-born musician isn’t afraid to voice his opinions. Take his single Paracetamol, for example, a politically-charged song criticising certain sections of the media’s misrepresentation of transgender teens (he also wrote a powerful article about the subject for The Guardian).
Urging his fans and peers to vote tomorrow, below McKenna offers his side of the debate.
How will you be voting in this election and why?
“Labour, because I and many others need the public services that are currently being dismantled.”
Why is it so important for young people to vote?
“Because we need to make up numbers – so far we haven’t been, and we have a chance to make a huge difference to results. So many more young people would vote if they had more encouragement to, it’s a shame that the party in power benefits from young people voting less in that sense.”
How do you feel the outcome of this election could impact you as a musician? How might it impact your peers in the industry? And more broadly, our generation?
“I mean, quite simply, it impacts everything! Our opportunities and lifestyle in general can and will be impacted, which is why it’s so important to vote. For young people obviously accessibility to further education and cost of living are big talking points. Specifically as a touring musician I worry especially around Brexit, a party that prefers a “hard” Brexit could make – at the very least – European touring a lot more challenging ESPECIALLY for working class/unsigned bands. Brexit has the potential to be a big fuck you to bands without label tour support budgets.”
Anything else you’d like to say on the subject?
“I played in the House of Commons once to an audience of Tory MPs and suchlike, and a few of them did little speeches about the event and all that. Boy they can talk the talk – but when it came down to it, none of them fucking listened to me. I think it was very telling.”