‘A poll last week showed nearly half of young people believe their vote will not make a difference and fewer than one in five 18 to 24-year-olds trust politicians’

IT seems almost certain that the general election is going to bring an end to one of the most-hated governments in British history.

And good riddance.

Tenants in social housing have been treated with contempt and left to rot in terrible conditions.

NHS workers have been pushed to exhaustion. Our teachers have been hung out to dry, our schoolchildren failed.

But the prospect of replacing it with a Starmer-led Labour administration offers little to inspire any hope of any meaningful alternative.

Most people on the Left will hold their nose to get the Tories out, but with few illusions about what is going to come.

The unholy marriage between Labour and the Conservatives is one key reason why so many people just aren’t that interested in party politics in 2024.

A poll last week showed nearly half of young people believe their vote will not make a difference and fewer than one in five 18 to 24-year-olds trust politicians.

And despite the predicted landslide for the Labour Party, this sense of disconnect will prevail.

Few people will truly believe that their vote holds sway in the corridors of power. So why bother at all?

No election is a done deal. We still don’t really know if large numbers of Conservative voters will actually bring themselves to vote for Keir Starmer. Or if large numbers of Labour voters will actually bring themselves to vote for Keir Starmer.

It could be another 1992, when the Tories snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Or another 1997, when they were buried in a landslide. It would be foolish to just think the result is a foregone conclusion.

If recent election trends are to be followed, a third of the voting population will not bother going to the polling station to mark an X a week today (Thursday). How many more remain confused about what to do, even at this late stage?

It would be wrong to call this voter apathy.

There are still millions of people desperately wanting a real change and who will be hell bent on ensuring whoever is in power does not get a free ride.

But they are wondering who is going to be keeping up the pressure to renationalise the railways, NHS and utilities companies.

It is going to be down to the activists and campaigners, the protest organisers, and the public getting behind the unions calling workers out on strike.

Yes, it’s time to kick out these terrible Tories. But the real fight begins on July 5.