{"id":5092,"date":"2015-08-04T17:02:30","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T16:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5092"},"modified":"2015-08-05T16:22:14","modified_gmt":"2015-08-05T15:22:14","slug":"something-to-sign-up-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5092","title":{"rendered":"Something to sign up for"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As part of our series on the Labour leadership election, UNITElive spoke to National Union of Students vice president Shelly Asquith, who is also a proud Unite member, on why voting in this election is so important.<\/p>\n

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Asquith signed up to Unite several years ago as a student, after battling through various precarious, low-paying jobs that have come to dominate the economy, especially for young people.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter I finished school, I had to take a year off and work before going to university because I simply couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBefore and during my time in university, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been working on one short-term, part-time contract after another with little job security \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for example, making pizzas, or in recruitment.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is the world that young people live in \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no job security, and a systematic denial of access to education and training for all but the most wealthy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Asquith explained why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s signed up as an affiliate supporter to choose the next Labour leader.<\/p>\n

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Defining moment <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs a member of Unite, a union affiliated to Labour party, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve signed up to vote in the election because this is a big, defining moment in the Labour party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s election defeat we must band together and make sure that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the Tories in power next time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYoung people have been particularly hit hard by this Tory government,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Welfare Bill, for example, will slash housing benefit for young people who already face so much insecurity. Maintenance grants for students on low-income have also been eliminated.<\/p>\n

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Asquith rejects the notion that young people aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t concerned about politics.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this commonly held idea that young people aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t involved in the political process,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe reality is, however, that young people are<\/em> involved; they just aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily party-political. This is mostly because party politics hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offered anything that has inspired and encouraged young people to sign up for.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis upcoming Labour leadership election, however, is different,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Asquith added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYoung people see that there are alternatives, that party politics might have something to offer them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the specific issues we as young people face are finally becoming a central part of the debate.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI definitely encourage everyone who supports the Labour party to take part \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for young people especially this is a chance to have a say in what our future will look like.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Remember the last day to sign up to vote in the Labour leadership election is August 12. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s our step-by-step guide<\/a> to becoming an affiliated supporter and have your say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of our series on the Labour leadership election, UNITElive spoke to National Union of Students vice president Shelly Asquith, who is also a proud Unite member, on why voting in this election is so important.   Asquith signed up to Unite several years ago as a student, after battling through various precarious, low-paying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[324],"wps_subtitle":"Student leader says young should take part ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5095,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5092\/revisions\/5095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}