“From the neglected stalls of Swindon’s Tented Market to the national polls, it feels like a ‘Green Surge’ is taking root. According to recent YouGov poll, for the first time, the Greens have overtaken Labour among 18–24-year-olds, but how have they managed to capture the hearts of so many young people?
In 2024, I remember waking up on Friday 5th July, rushing to open my phone and see the results of the General Election. I’m pleased to see a wave of posts congratulating our new Labour government on their landslide win.
As a then 15-year-old, Labour felt like the solution to the problems I faced as a young person: low school budgets, the impending doom of University student loans and the rising cost of a student meal deal. The Labour campaign was centred around this idea of “Change for Britain”- I just never expected it to be for the worse.
Since then, the current government has exacerbated the challenges us young people face, from raising the tuition fee cap to over £10,000 by 2028, to failing to fix the ongoing Special Education Needs (SEND) crisis. This U-turn by our government has hit young people like me hard over the past year.
So where could we turn? Who would advocate for the youth so that we can look forward to the future, rather than dread it?
Since September 2025, one party (and particularly one leader) has become a beacon of hope for young people all over the country. With plans to scrap the old student loan system all together, give a much needed “cash injection” to our crumbling public school system by taxing the wealthiest in our country, and abolishing Ofsted entirely, the Green Party, led by Zak Polanski, has become the voice of change that young people, like me, have been waiting for.
As of November 2025, the Green Party has the largest Youth wing of any UK political party, with over 40,000 members, making them larger than Young Labour. As of the January 2026 YouGov opinion polls, the Greens have the highest percentage of young voters (37%) on their side.
This Green Surge can be largely attributed to the passion for change that seems to drive the members, a passion to fix the gaping cracks in our country’s system. Speaking to Andrew Bentley, a previous Green Parliamentary Candidate for North Swindon, he explained how “I was the first one in my family to go to university, and not leave thousands and thousands in debt. That’s the sort of opportunity I would like to see every child in Swindon get”
This enthusiasm to help young people was echoed by Repi Begum, current Green Councillor in Swindon, who spoke to me about her wishes to make use of the, previously buzzing but now neglected, spaces in our town centre: “The tented market has just been sitting still under the Conservatives and now the Labour Party. Why are we not looking at making this into a hub for youth so that there is a decrease in anti-social behaviour”
On Saturday, I had the opportunity to witness a Green “Action Day” in Queen’s Park with the deputy leader of the Green Party, Mothin Ali. The excitement was palpable as I spoke to different Green supporters from all walks of life, including children as young as 12, that had come together to celebrate and advocate for their hopes to help Britain.
Ali gave an emotive speech to the crowd, thanking them for their support and addressing his plans to “break down barriers” between the public and politics. I was able to speak with him myself, in which he boldly opposed the current system of funding the public sector.
He was adamant that we need to stop thinking of our system as not having any money for the ordinary people: “When banks need bailing out, when we’re ready to go to war, we don’t ask questions, “Where’s the money coming from”. The money’s there.”
Saturday truly cemented my belief that as a young person, the Green Party could be the ones to fix the roots of the problems faced by the everyday people. No more false promises for a supposedly brighter future, just people that want to get it right for the country.”
