At 25, Anthony Lavelle is bidding to be the youngest mayor of a major city in Britain. He explains why we desperately need more young people to shake up our outdated politics.
Ever since it was announced that I was on a shortlist of two to be Labour’s mayoral candidate for Liverpool, I’ve faced one question over and over.
Aren’t you too young to be running for mayor?
I usually reply that they’re asking the wrong question. Given that more than half the world’s population is under 30 and yet the average age of a councillor is 60, the question should really be, why aren’t more young people running for leadership positions in politics?
“When you are young, they assume you know nothing,” sings Taylor Swift, but the reality is Gen Z’s and Millennials not only know plenty, but they are also shaping the future and starting to make their mark in politics.
Whether it’s Finland’s Sanna Marin, the world’s youngest state leader, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to serve in the United States congress, or Scotland’s Mhairi Black, who at 20 was our youngest MP since 1667, a new generation of young social democratic leaders is fast emerging across the world.
Plenty are still in denial about this. In local government there’s still resistance to the idea that young people can take on leadership roles. Many think you shouldn’t enter public life unless you have grey hair.
