The Government wants to connect with young people and has set up a ‘youth advisers' panel to hear their views. Claire Fox questions the approach. ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!' The nation's teenagers are no doubt feeling Wordsworth's words keenly as we start 2009. Never mind the French Revolution. The DCLG's unveiling of its youth advisers' scheme must surely have got some young hearts racing. The revolution started before Christmas. Communities secretary, Hazel Blears, declared that her two new ‘youth advisers' will act as a ‘voice for young people', and tell government what young people want. They have been chosen from a 300-strong national pool of 15 to 20-year-olds who have all received ‘accredited training' as ‘young consultants to help public bodies engage meaningfully with young people'. OK, less manning of the barricades and more armed with diplomas, but it does seem youngsters are being given a real say. Last summer's Communities in control White Paper explicitly promised to ‘put more power into the hands of younger people' in terms of local decision-making. More generally, this new fashion for setting up endless youth consultation panels is often posed as a means of engaging youth in the democratic process. But for all the talk of empowerment, there are some dangerously-disempowering and anti-democratic assumptions at play. Ms Blears enthuses: ‘My youth advisers' panel will champion young people, their views and ideas.' We might ask, what gives these advisers the authority to champion their peers' views? One of them, 20-year-old Rory Birch from Lancashire, says: ‘We… young people… have our own views on how things are.' Who is this ‘we' he refers to? It is not a collective based on shared political beliefs, but merely an accident of birth-date. For all the talk of representing youth perspectives, these schemes fly in the face of representative democracy. When Mr Birch says he is ‘privileged to be selected to work on the panel', the key word is selected – note, not elected. So much for introducing young people to the principle of democratic mandate. Mr Birch's colleague Jacqueline Macaulay, 19, from Southwark, sees her role as demonstrating ‘that young people are… responsible enough to make important decisions that affect a large number of people'. But at her age, she should prove that responsibility by standing for election and holding her decisions accountable to the electorate. It is assumed that the demographic category, ‘youth', is an undifferentiated bloc with uniform opinions. When Ms Blears met her advisers, they focused on ‘young people's views on making green spaces – like parks, piers and town centres – more attractive to young people, and protecting them from vandalism' (riveting stuff). But is there really a distinct ‘youth perspective' on green spaces? After all, some youth may be happy vandals, others may be nature-lovers, more might be indifferent. And what about those youth who want town centres unregulated? Somehow I doubt Ms Blears will want to hear from those who like a bit of binge-drinking and freedom to have fun in town centre on a Saturday night. Why are politicians interested in young people's opinions anyway? Is it because these opinions are riveting or merely because they are being uttered by a key demographic from which adults feel disconnected? Surely, it is patronising to clap young people's views indiscriminately. Undoubtedly, 16-year-olds can sometimes be insightful. But let's be honest, more often they are likely to be banal and derivative because of their immaturity. That is youth's prerogative. The real problem lies in the fawning way adults hang on their every word. When Andy Sawford, chief executive of the LGiU, suggests council staff need ‘training and skills' in Facebook, and Bebo – ‘by far the most popular site for eight to 17-year-olds' – does he really think we can win authority from young people by aping their technological gossiping tools? Does this mean that if every adult politician learned txt language, donned a hoodie and gave speeches in rap, young people would respect them? Adults should not need to flatter the young to connect with them. Real connections occur when youth realise that adults are wiser, and inhabit a fascinating world of politics to grow up into, more inspiring than childish things. Claire Fox is director of the Institute of Ideas
