Why we need political education on the school curriculum - Yorkshire Post Letters

A recent report by Sir John Curtis identified public trust in UK politics is at rock bottom; with over 59 per cent of the population stating they don’t trust politicians, that they put party before people.

Sadly, young people are also disillusioned, with 60 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds believing politicians don’t listen to young people resulting in low voter registration. The report suggests that because Brexit failed to live up to expectations, Brexit voters now feel betrayed by government.

Political apathy and disengagement have resulted in a lack of trust in politics and politicians; to counteract this, the UK needs meaningful participation of people in politics to ensure voters make informed political decisions and are confident that their vote will make positive differences to people’s lives.

A population who lacks trust in politics leaves voters open to easy persuasion to vote for policies not in their best interest, such as the three-word slogans used by Boris Johnson during the Brexit campaign and the scaremongering tactics of popularist campaigner Nigel Farage - voters need to understand the issues before voting.

Brexit was always the will of self-serving politicians such as Johnson and Farage who choose not to speak truth to the people.

It is shocking that, considering the problems caused by Brexit, people are willing to believe the words of charlatan Nigel Farage, an instigator of Brexit, a friend of Trump and Putin, who chooses to defend Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a peaceful European nation. People like Nigel Farage use and manipulate the minds of people for their own political ambitions.

To prevent future political disasters, we must have a more politically aware population and for this to happen, political education must be included in the national school curriculum.