ILC-UK launches election blog, supported by Munich Re.

Today The International Longevity Centre UK launches its election blog – It’s Longevity, Stupid. Over the coming weeks we will be cutting through the hyperbole associated with the election and analysing the future of public policy from an intergenerational perspective.
This election, perhaps more than any other, has been drawn up along generational lines. Discourse from the media and politicians is framing the big political questions as age-specific problems that require age-specific solutions; whether it is tuition fees, pensioner bonds, help to buy or pensions freedoms. These are issues which may previously have been as part of wider and more inclusive debates; for example on welfare, housing or education. Now we are seeing policy increasingly segmented across generational lines.

However this could be a simplistic way of viewing the UK electorate. Through this election blog we will investigate the true impact of demography on this election.

We know that older people are more likely to vote, but what are they interested in?

Are the issues important to your average younger voter that different to those of your average older voter? Does it even make sense to silo voters by age?

And how much of an impact can both the young vote and the old vote make in the most marginal seats?

These are questions we will be answering in the weeks leading up to May the 7th.

Andrew Rear, Chief Executive, Africa, Asia Pacific, UK & Ireland Life, Munich Re said: “Questions of inter-generational fairness have become central to this election. Munich Re is happy to support ILC-UK’s effort to contribute objective analysis to these questions.”

Barroness Sally Greengross OBE, Chief Executive of The International Longevity Centre said: “Demographic change is shaping the direction of public policy in the UK. Not only will population change determine which configuration of parties might win the election and hold power, but also the future direction of public policy. But the debates about the appropriateness of electoral outcomes and public policy are often skewed by a tendancy to pitch the young versus the old. This blog will take an intergenerational approach and come to an informed judgement about many of the issues at the heart of the election debate.”