{"id":5198,"date":"2015-08-10T16:56:26","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T15:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5198"},"modified":"2015-08-10T16:56:26","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T15:56:26","slug":"sense-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5198","title":{"rendered":"Sense of hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite member Samantha Ritchie has been actively involved in the Labour party as a youth officer in her Constituency Labour Party, and signing up to vote in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leadership election, is, for her, an opportunity to affect real change within the party.<\/p>\n

 
\nShe argues that despite many people being disaffected by a party that has, over the years, distanced itself from the working class it was created to represent, this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s election puts power back into the people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important as the Labour Party needs to change and the only way to change it is by getting involved,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we all get together we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to change it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nRitchie believes that this contest is different from previous ones because true anti-austerity policies are finally on offer.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe popularity of anti-austerity policies came through in the last general election in May, especially in Scotland, where the SNP gave an actual alternative to austerity,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t agree with the SNP or nationalism but they did offer an anti-austerity manifesto and people voted for it.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow is the time that we have to offer something different and be an opposition party rather than just going along with Tory policy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ritchie added.<\/p>\n

 
\nAge discrimination<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nRitchie believes that the Tory government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks on young people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefits and other state support, including scrapping university maintenance grants and cutting housing benefit for those under 25, is a direct function of young people not turning up at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basic age discrimination,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Tories are very anti-young and are attacking young people because they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t vote, so they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about what we have to say or can give to society.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut many young people who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t vote might not realise that politics changes everything \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rates of pay, security in the workplace, where you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to live and more.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t vote and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get involved in politics you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really complain about anything as politics is everything.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBut Ritchie believes that the groundswell of involvement coming from young people who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve signed up to take part in this Labour leadership election shows that young people do care about politics if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re inspired by what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on offer.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis time, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this sense that the election is really about hope,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow, more than ever, we need to get involved in this election,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ritchie added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor young people, it will determine our future.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nInterested in signing up to vote in the Labour leadership election as a union member? Find out more here<\/a>, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget the last day to sign up is on Wednesday, August 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite member Samantha Ritchie has been actively involved in the Labour party as a youth officer in her Constituency Labour Party, and signing up to vote in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leadership election, is, for her, an opportunity to affect real change within the party.   She argues that despite many people being disaffected by a party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[324],"wps_subtitle":"Election puts power back in hands of people ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5198"}],"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=5198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5200,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5198\/revisions\/5200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}