As part of its election coverage, Yahoo News is talking to voters across the country about the issues that will influence their vote. Read more of our election coverage.Your voice‘ series here as Election Day approaches on July 4.
Callum Harbour will reflect on his faith when he votes in this year’s general election. (Alamy/Supplied)
For Callum Harbour, voting is not just a democratic responsibility, but also a moral one. On July 4, he has just finished his A’ Level exams at Telford College and will be voting for the first time.
The young Christian, who is preparing for a year of retirement to earn money before studying theology and philosophy at the University of Nottingham, says he has not yet made up his mind, but that his faith will play an important role in his final decision.
“No party is going to be perfect, but for me with my Christian ideals it’s about which party helps meet people’s needs. My faith is a big part of who I am, so it does translate into these decisions about who I vote for,” he says.
Although he will scan all the party manifestos before casting his vote, the 18-year-old is more certain about who he won’t vote for than who will get his support on the day. The Conservatives are not there because of their recent record, he says, and the Liberal Democrats because of their history of breaking promises to young people and students.
Unlike many of his college friends, he likes the idea of the Conservative plan to introduce national service for young people – but while he likes it personally, he agrees that the plan wouldn’t work in practice. “A lot of people just wouldn’t go,” he laughs.
Harbour has found his first experience of following a general election campaign disappointing so far and is disappointed by the amount of time politicians spend criticising each other rather than presenting their own positive agenda for change.
“I don’t want to vote for someone who focuses on saying someone else is worthless, I want them to focus on what they’re going to do. It seems a little childish and petty,” he says.
“I understand there are rivalries, particularly with the Conservatives and Labour, but when I’m researching the party I don’t just want to hear that another party is doing badly. That’s something that has surprised me. There seems to be so much emphasis on it. I do believe it’s right to point out mistakes, but I don’t see the point in childish comments.”
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The leaders
The young voter is registered in the Telford constituency, which will be closely watched on election night as pollsters and pundits try to gauge the impact on the Conservatives’ fortunes of Nigel Farage’s entry into the race as a parliamentary candidate and leader of the Reform Party.
Telford, a Labour constituency since the Blair years, elected Conservative Lucy Allan as its MP in 2015 and 2019. However, she sat as an independent after being suspended by the party in May for publicly supporting the Reform candidate in this year’s vote, Alan Adams. She will stand down at this election.
Harbour won’t vote for reform – “I’ve seen some of their policies that I really don’t agree with” – but will accept Adams as his local MP if the vote goes that way. “If Telford ends up being represented by them, then that’s democracy,” he says.
With four weeks left in the campaign, Harbours is a candidate for both Labour and the Green Party. He is hoping for a pledge to support the NHS, and more funding for the area’s police and fire services.
While he works to save for his college years, the cost of living is also a major concern for him. His brother, he says, had to work hard in paid jobs during his first year of college, leaving little time for socializing. “It would be great if tuition fees were abolished, but I wonder how that would happen in practice? You can’t just get the money from somewhere.”
The question that concerns him as a new voter is: which party is most likely to turn their promises into action? “I think running a government is the hardest job in the world,” he says. “It’s really hard, so when people make these promises, I take them with a pinch of salt. No party is going to deliver on them completely. Of course I want to vote for the people who make changes to social services for people who don’t have money, but it will be interesting to see if these things actually happen.”
Through a community football project, Harbour has befriended a number of refugees living in Shropshire, particularly those fleeing war-torn Ukraine. He wants a future government to continue to support migrants in need of a safe home, but he is concerned about the lack of infrastructure to help communities cope with new arrivals.
“It’s a tricky one because we should be giving people asylum, but we need to be looking at improving infrastructure and developing more places for asylum seekers to go,” he says. Harbour would also like to see a joint European deal on housing refugees and migrants across the continent – something that has become harder to negotiate since Britain left the European Union.
“The UK still has a big place on the international stage and I think we should use that to advocate for peace and nonviolence,” Harbour adds hopefully. “I’m a Christian and I advocate for peace. I want a government that is committed to helping people in the war zones and is committed to stopping these wars – whether that’s through financial aid or by supporting a ceasefire for all the innocent victims.”
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