Tories should cut price of flights to Ibiza to win back young voters, says thinktank

The Government should scrap air passenger duty for those under 30 in a bid to recapture the youth vote from Labour, a thinktank has said.



Jeremy Corbyn’s party surpassed expectations at June’s election after a large number of young voters flocked to Labour’s message.

Pledges such as scrapping tuition fees and a rise in the national living wage struck a chord with young people and helped Mr Corbyn’s party gain 30 new seats.

In a report out today, the Adam Smith Institute argue that taxes on plane tickets - dubbed the Ibiza tax - are among the highest in the world, and could be putting young people in the UK off travelling and working abroad.

The thinktank say raising the age at which the charge is paid from 16 to 30 would cut the cost of flights for young people, boost the economy and win voters over to the Conservatives.

Sam Bowman, Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said: “Today’s paper should start a conversation in the government and the Conservative Party at large about how to win back some of the younger voters lost to Corbyn, both in terms of specific policies that might improve young people’s prospects by raising their spending power, cutting their rents and giving them better access to the public services they need, and in terms of a wider culture shift that puts the priorities and problems of young people at the heart of Conservative governance.”

The report also suggested lowering the rate of national insurance paid, which would save young earners hundreds of pounds a year.