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Election '15

The New Wave: Meet the Young Politicians Aiming to Shake Up Westminster with the Outsider Parties

We talk to minority party campaigners as young as 16 about the upcoming UK elections.

This video originally appeared on VICE UK.

In this new series we travel around the country, from Durham to Glasgow to Peckham, to meet the new wave of young politicians and activists looking to make an impact upon the general election. With intense canvasing campaigns, some managed by the candidates' mothers, the fresh faces of British politics have swapped all the things that young people normally spend their time doing for a shot at shaking up Westminster.

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In this episode, we focus on the so-called "minority parties"; those that sit outside the traditional Big Three that have had dominion over Parliament for over a century. A paradigm shift has taken place in politics in recent years, with more and more people questioning the Establishment of Westminster and looking to parties like the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party, and UKIP.

First up, we meet Mhairi Black, who is aiming to become Paisley and Westminster's youngest ever MP, claiming the seat for the Scottish National Party from shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander. Sick of the Westminster "boys' club," Mhairi has been inspired by Scotland's political awakening after the referendum and the popularity surge of Nicola Sturgeon.

Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru believe they've been forgotten by Parliament. Glen Page is a member of Paid Cymru who speaks passionately and articulately on Wales's poverty problem, which he feels is overlooked by the current coalition. We also meet Brett John, the chairman of Plaid Cymru Youth in llanelli at just 16-years-old. Every weekend, he heads out into the town centre (accompanied by an adult) to convince people on the street that Plaid Cymru is the best party to vote for.

Finally, we meet Green Party candidate for Lewes, Alfie Stirling. Alfie wants to convince people that his party do not lack conviction and questions why we keep growing the economy in a way that doesn't improve the quality of life for people who actually live in the UK.

UKIP declined to speak to VICE for the making of this film.

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