First Time Voters

Below is David's message to first-time voters in the constituency, urging them to register to vote and get excited about the campaign:

"I am writing to you as your Member of Parliament with regard to the upcoming elections – both national and local. This will be the first time that you are entitled to vote in such elections, so it is important that you make the most of this important opportunity.  

Much has been said over the last decade of young people not caring about politics or current affairs. Indeed, in the last two general elections, young people aged between 18 and 24 were the least likely to vote.

I am asking you to be different. You have spent the first 18 years of your life being told what to do, having decisions made for you, telling you what GCSEs you have to take, the earliest age you can leave school or whether you can travel free on the bus or not.  Now is your chance to make a big decision yourself about your future.

The right to vote is something that you may have only just acquired, but it is a right that people have spent hundreds of years fighting and dying for. Your great-grandmother could not vote because she was a woman.  Your great-grandfather could not vote if he did not own his own house.

If you want a better health service with more trained doctors and nurses, this is your time to speak up and say so.  If you want more buses on the streets that are clean, modern and on time, now is the time to make your voice heard.  If you think young people should get more support in finding jobs, apprenticeships or training, then vote for the candidate you think will do that for you.  Voting is part of being a responsible adult; do not waste this chance – it probably won’t come around again for a number of years.

So make sure that you get yourself down to the polling station on Election Day to vote for whichever candidate you think will best provide the future you want.  And take it on yourself to make sure that your friends are all registered to vote as well.  If they are not on the electoral register then they can download a form from here: http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/council/voting.htm#registeravote to sign up.

I will look forward to knocking on your door or seeing you around Tottenham in the next few weeks.

Regards,
David Lammy"