Excruciating moment minister is told the many reasons why young people don't like the Tories

Victoria Derbyshire has been praised by viewers for explaining to a Tory minister why his party is unpopular among young voters.

On BBC's Newsnight, the presenter broke down all the different reasons to Transport Secretary Mark Harper which ranged from the Tories pledge to bring back national service, extending the student loan repayment time frame, and rent increases (just to name a few).

This feeling is reflected in a recent YouGov poll where only 8 per cent of those aged 18-24 years old would vote Conservative, compared to the 57 per cent who said they would vote for Labour.

Derbyshire began by noting the different between what the government has done for the elderly, as she said: “Compared to what you’ve done for pensioners, look at what you’ve done for young people."

“You’re going to force them to do national service, you’ve tripled their tuition fees, you froze the threshold at which they have to start paying back their student loan, you’ve extended the student loan repayment term from 30 to 40 years meaning many graduates will be paying off their student debt in their 60s.”

In this time, Harper looked uneasy as he took a sip of water and Derbyshire continued: “You invested only about a third of what was recommended by the catch-up tsar to help kids catch up after the pandemic, rents rose nearly 9 per cent in the last year and houses are at their most expensive since 1876.

“That’s why I ask, have the Tories got a problem with young people?”

This is when Harper: “No, not at all. That’s why, for example, we’ve cut national insurance contributions for working people - that applies to everyone who works for a living.

“We’ve increased the national living wage to a record level to make sure those on the lowest incomes have had significant rises."

When it came to tuition fees he added that it was something he "strongly believed in" as it meant universities were about to have more places on their courses for working-class students.

Viewers took to social media to praise Derbyshire for holding Harper to account.

Elsewhere, here are 21 of the best memes to Rishi Sunak vowing to bring back national service and how the UK political parties are attempting to win the general election on TikTok.

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