This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book investigates the reasons behind
the 2017 youthquake - which saw the highest rate of youth turnout in a quarter of a century
and an unprecedented gap in youth support for Labour over the Conservative Party - from both a
comparative and a theoretical perspective. It compares youth turnout and party allegiance over
time and traces changes in youth political participation in the UK since the onset of the 2008
global financial crisis - from austerity to the 2016 EU referendum to the rise of Corbyn - up
until the June 2017 General Election. The book identifies the rise of cosmopolitan values and
left-leaning attitudes amongst Young Millennials particularly students and young women. The
situation in the UK is also contrasted with developments in youth participation in other
established democracies including the youthquakes inspired by Obama in the US (2008) and
Trudeau in Canada (2015).
