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Tory Week

Hanging Out with Young People in the Toriest Town in Britain

With the election dividing the generations, we spoke to young people in Theresa May's backyard.

Maidenhead is arguably the most Tory town in Britain. Since it became a constituency in 1997 it has never been held by anyone other than the Conservatives. Tory PM Theresa May has been its MP since then, and nobody else has had a chance to snatch it off her. Its unitary authority, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, is 90.2 percent white and its population has an average age of 40 – all that is to say that it is indeed very, very, stereotypically Conservative.

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With the election taking shape partly along generational lines – Labour is 57 points ahead of the Conservatives with voters under 25 – we went to Maidenhead to find out what it's like for young people to live somewhere super Tory.

MATILDA, 18

VICE: So did you know Maidenhead is one of the most Conservative places in the country?
Matilda: I knew, yeah.

Are you voting?
Of course I am!

Do you know who for?
Labour.

So how do your parents vote?
They're both immigrants, so they can't vote, which is why I'm definitely not voting for the party which wants to kick out even the legal immigrants.

Where are they from?
Poland.

What's it like living here as a young person?
It's a bit dodgy, because you talk to older people and they're nice to you, but then they talk about politics and you're like, "Oh!" That's interesting.

Is it hard for your parents living here?
I think it's definitely harder now after leaving the EU. Then again, it also depends where they go. There are some really Conservative and imperialistic "Britain is superior" places, and there are others that are used to foreigners coming here and working.

So it's shit, basically.
It's very, very white British here. I go to school here but I currently live in Slough, so the dichotomy between Slough – where the majority are not British – and here is insane.

ABIGAIL, 20

Do you live in Maidenhead?
Abigail: I do, but I'm not here much.

Did you know it was super Conservative?
To be fair, no.

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Do you know how you're going to vote?
No idea.

Are you going to?
Definitely, but I look up the week before because I don't want to be clueless about who I'm voting for. I'm just so out of it, to be fair.

Do you think Maidenhead is a nice place for young people to be?
Not really. Everyone just leaves as soon as they can.

JACOB, 19

Have you noticed how Conservative Maidenhead is?
Jacob: Yeah, Theresa May is our MP, so it's very Conservative.

How do you feel about that?
I think I'm going to vote Labour this year. From what the media has been saying I think I've gathered enough information, and Labour is closest to my opinion about how things should be.

What's it like being young somewhere so Conservative?
I don't really notice it as much. I think if you've got your opinions about politics, it's not really something you talk about, normally. If you're having a conversation with your friends it's more of an elderly thing to do. With my friends, anyway.

Do you know how your parents vote?
My mother's side don't vote because of religious reasons, and my dad – I'm not really sure if he's a big voter at all. I think he just knows that the country is in a bad shape and it's going to take a lot of work to get it fixed.

How do you learn about politics? How did you decide to vote?
I decided to vote because I've seen a lot on social media saying that young people aren't voting. I thought, if I started to vote, it'd make a little bit of a difference. It's one vote, but still.

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ROBERT, 19

Have you ever noticed that Maidenhead is super Tory?
Robert: I hadn't noticed it until recently. When it was the Brexit referendum, I really noticed that pretty much everywhere you went they all agreed that we needed to leave and that we should be Conservative.

Do you vote?
I'd like to vote, but it seems like there's not much point, really. With the upcoming election, it feels like a landslide for Theresa May anyway.

Who would you vote for?
I would vote Labour, but I generally think Corbyn's not doing the best job.

So you don't love the Tories?
I'd like to be for the middle class. I say middle class – I'd like to help more people rather than just let the rich people take over. It seems more like it's going that way, anyway.

Do you know how your parents vote?
We all vote the same, sort of.

Do you think Maidenhead being so Conservative has a negative effect on living here as a young person?
I haven't seen any negative effects yet, but I think I'll notice them after the election.

JACK, 21

Do you care about politics at all?
I care, yeah. In a certain way.

Who are you voting for?
That's the bit I don't believe in. I believe that no matter what anyone wants in the public, the government are still going to choose whoever they want at the end of the day. Whatever works out better for them and how they think this country is going to work.

Have you noticed that Maidenhead is very Conservative?
Yeah, it is.

How is it being young here?
Hard. It is quite hard, because I don't really know about the Conservatives that well, but I know it's for older people that have a lot of money and own the banks and that. But yeah, myself, I think I'm voting for Labour or the Liberal Democrats.

So you are voting?
I'm being forced to.

Do you know which way your parents lean?
I don't really talk to my family, but my girlfriend's family are all Conservative, so that's hard.

@marianne_eliose / chloeorefice.tumblr.com