Russell Brand, recently voted the World’s fourth greatest thinker by Prospect magazine readers, has been labelled a ‘prune’ by the Sutton and Cheam Tory candidate.
Brand made it into the top ten, ahead of Wolf Hall novelist Hilary Mantel, and was described by the magazine as the ‘spiritual leader of Britain’s disaffected anti-capitalist youth’.
Paul Scully’s assessment on Brand came amid fears that young voters are becoming more disillusioned with the democratic process.
In the last general election the percentage of people aged 18-24 who voted was lower than any other demographic, but Mr Scully believes young voters should engage in the political process if they want their voices heard.
He said: “When you actually assess Russell Brand’s comments advising people not to vote you realise what a prune he actually is, those statements are ludicrous and have no basis behind them.
“Younger people might listen to him but if you don’t take part in the democratic process you really give up your right to moan about issues in society.”
“When you actually assess Russell Brand’s comments you realise those statements are ludicrous and have no basis behind them.”
Under the current Coalition government more children are now educated in core subjects and there are now more than 1 million kids in schools that are classed as either good or excellent by OFSTED.
Mr Scully believes that education in politics, democracy and citizenship will help the younger generation understand the importance of voting, but also insists that politicians have a responsibility to interact with them.
He said: “I think it doesn’t help that young people aren’t being educated in politics to the right standards.
“The higher the standards of education, the higher the chance that young people will start to engage with politicians, and from there they can start to establish their own views.
“I’ve been going around local schools in the area and I want to try and listen to what they have to say rather than make long speeches.
“I also think it’s important to talk to them through the mediums they might want to interact through such as social media.”
Policies such as the tuition fees increase to £9,000 caused a furore with more than 10,000 protesters marching through the streets of London in November 2014.
This might give further credence to those young voters who feel they aren’t being represented but Mr Scully insists that in reality these figures haven’t stopped people from going to University.
“I was working in Parliament during the time of the protests and it was quite an extraordinary experience to witness,” he said.
“But I believe the increase had to happen in order to help Britain’s economy – if you look at the numbers it hasn’t stopped people from going to university.
Mr Scully claimed that in August last year 412,170 18-year-olds had their place confirmed at a University or College, which is a 3% increase from last year.
Image courtesy of BBC Newsnight via YouTube, with thanks
