On the hustings: political promises to the young

Conservatives

As the governing party, the are putting their youth policies into action. The areas they believe concern young people the most are:

1 Education - they intend to continue the practice of funding students in higher education with a 50 per cent grant, 50 per cent loan system;

2 Employment - they are against a minimum wage, and as such feel that they are helping students as far as vacation employment is concerned;

3 Finance - they claim to be able to provide lower taxation, giving more freedom to young people beginning careers, and low mortgage rates to help first-time buyers;

4 Environment - the are appealing to young voters with their environmental proposals.

Labour

Pledges to:

1 get 250,000 young people off benefit and into work, by the year 2000;

2 replace the Youth Training Scheme with a new high-quality "Target 2000".

3 ensure that all 16- and 17-year-olds in work get training;

4 relax the 16-hour rule (at present, if you are receiving more than 16 hours of education per week, you cannot claim benefit for further schooling);

5 give more young people the opportunity to work in non-profit voluntary sector jobs or help to clean up the environment as part of their "Environment Task Force".

Liberal Democrats

Are concentrating on three key areas which they believe are of the greatest importance to young people. These are:

1 Education - including student housing and university allocation fees. The party is opposed to the idea of any kind of "top-up fee" being imposed on students and believes that no student should have to pay for higher education;

2 Crime - protecting young people from crime, and keeping them out of crime;

3 Environmental issues - the Lib-Dems are appealing to young voters with their environmental proposals;

The Lib-Dems are also working on a youth manifesto, and want as many young people as possible to register to vote.