Generation Xers - as well as Millennials - are turning away from the Conservative Party

Over the last 2 years, the number of Conservative supporters under 50 has plummeted. The average age at which voters moved from Labour to Tory was 34 at the beginning of the 2017 General Election campaign. Immediately after that disastrous performance, it was 47 - and has since risen to 51.

These salutary findings, from the think tank Onward, should terrify Conservatives and end the complacency that assumes young people will naturally shift Rightwards as they age. This collapse in support encompasses not just older Millennials born in the 1980s, but the entirety of Generation X (1965-1980) as well. Clearly, the Conservative dilemma goes well beyond the evergreen problem of getting students and 20-somethings out to vote.

Given Jeremy Corbyn's growing support among younger voters, many argue that the solution lies in drifting further Left. Onward, for instance have urged the Conservatives to occupy a “new centre ground” of public opinion by merging policies like immigration control and low taxation with environmentalism and "punishing irresponsible companies". But it's easy to misdiagnose the problem.

Don’t forget that the Conservatives already attempted a centrist move in 2017, in a manifesto which merged Milibandian economics (energy price caps, a centrally planned industrial strategy, increased regulation of executive pay, etc) with nanny statism and High Tory paternalism. We are still living with the disastrous consequences of this electoral gamble.