NEWSFLASH: There are local elections taking place across England this week (on Thursday 3rd May) - but does anyone care? We headed down to South Bank Uni to find out...
You could easily be forgiven for not realising elections are taking place this week as there hasn't been a whole lot of coverage about them - especially compared to the likes of Brexit or the last general election. But on Thursday 3rd May, there'll be public votes to determine who takes 4,000 seats on around 150 councils across the country.
And although this might not sound particularly exciting, the outcome of this election will affect things such as bin collection, parking and council tax (aka. the boring stuff that either makes day to day life a breeze or incredibly inconvenient) for people all over the country.
What's more - after a close general election and recent scandals (antisemitism for Labour and Windrush for the Tories), the two major parties will be using this vote to gauge where they currently stand with the electorate.
But is anyone actually planning to go out and vote on Thursday 3rd? Or have the last couple of years tired people out?
We headed to South Bank University in London to find out...
Temmy, Law
"I'm definitely voting. I think everyone, not just students, needs to fight to be heard. I think a lot of people feel like they don't have a voice anymore and if we do speak up then no one listens. It's really important to use the platform we're given."
Ange, Product Design
"I'm not voting at all - I'm in my final year of uni so that's all I'm thinking about at the moment."
Alex, Product Design
"I didn't actually realise there were local elections happening. I'm at uni so much it's all I've got time for at the moment. I haven't really seen anyone campaigning either"
Mahmoud, Mechanical Engineering
"I haven't actually heard anything about them, but either way I don't think I'm eligible to vote here, only at home."
Sam, Engineering and Product Design
"I didn't know there were local elections happening to be honest. I've not really seen as many people interested in politics as they were a months ago either. After Brexit and the general election people just seemed to stop caring. Everyone seems a bit done with politics at the moment."
James, Engineering and Product Design
"I've not really heard anything about them. I think there's been a lack of campaigning, and plus uni is pretty hectic at the minute so it's hard to focus on anything outside of that, I'm a bit pre-occupied."
Edwin, Drama
"I don't really know much about it I'm afraid, it hasn't been massively publicised. If there's an election going on I'd love to be involved so I wish I'd seen more campaigning for it."
Jasmine, Drama
"I didn't even know there was an election, not going to lie. People could definitely have done more to publicise it."
Connor, Product Design
"I'd vote back home but I haven't had a chance to register here."
Alfie, Drama
"Yeah, I did know it was coming up. I'm pissed off though because I wasn't able to register to vote here and missed the chance to register to vote at home through the post. I feel like my vote would count more at home, so it's a shame I'm not going to be able to use it."
