How society treats its young defines us. Boris Johnson is determined to strip our young citizens of their future

When I was growing up there was a sense the generations were all in it together and, like resting boats, would rise together when the tide came. Now society has stopped listening to its young – and Boris Johnson has punched a hole in their hull

My God, I wish I could get out and about more in this election and spell out a few home truths. Like, “Your deal won’t get Brexit done, Mr Johnson. It gets you to the start line, and then the real tough stuff begins.” And while I am at it, I would tell him, and many others, that our democracy depends on being straight and truthful with the people, so how’s about trying it for once?

The reason I’m not out and about more is because I have not been well. While my mind is still sharp, and my heart for politics as passionate as the day I first stood for election, the body at my age is less willing.

So I’ve been stuck at home, following it all as best I can, and getting more and more dispirited by the whole thing. Cheap slogans; easy promises; the avoidance of big arguments in favour of both. This country deserves so much better. And, speaking as one of the older generation, I believe our young people, in particular, deserve better.

Earlier this year, I told a People’s Vote rally in Westminster that “this fight matters to me more than any I have known in politics”. The reason was stood directly behind me on stage: dozens of young people, most of whom were too young to vote in the EU referendum in 2016, all now calling for a Final Say.

Some of those same young people are now embarking on their own general election campaign. The group For Our Future’s Sake will tour key marginal constituencies to ensure first that young people register to vote then, second, that they use that vote tactically to keep their hope of a final Brexit referendum alive.

And I support them with all my heart. Here’s why.

My life began in a back-to-back stone house in Dewsbury where I used to wash the neighbour’s flagstones for tuppence on a Friday night. It was tough at times, yes, but it was full of hope because we were part of a community that shared its problems, where the old listened to the young and the young respected the old, and everyone looked out for each other. We could play safe beneath the washing that hung over our heads, run wild along the ginnels that connected our streets, and neighbours took you in as one of their own.

There was a sense that we were all in it together. And, like resting boats, we would all rise once the tide came.

That is not the case today. Society has stopped listening to its young and Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and the backers of Brexit have punched a hole in their hull. Some may rise, but their opportunities are deteriorating.

It is how a country treats those with most future, its youngest citizens, that defines us all. Johnson seems hell-bent on taking that future away.

The decisions you make before you are 25 matter so much more than those taken afterwards. I know this through experience. My dreams of taking the West End by storm as a dancer flickered but then faded; my father’s ambition to see me in a steady office job was tried and abandoned. But I had won a national speaking award, had stood for election to the local council, had begun to travel and took a job working for the Labour Party.

As a proud British patriot and European, I went to Berlin and other war-torn cities on the continent with little more than £5 in my pocket at the age of 17. I stayed with social democrat families who welcomed me into their homes.

I did all of this because my family and my community were on my side. They created a sense of opportunity from an early age and, as a result, my life was transformed. Nothing would ever again part me from politics or close my eyes to Europe and the wider world.

I am now into my nineties. But it is not the amount of years in your life that matters. It is the amount of life in your years.

Too many in parliament have lived the same year on repeat. A uniform type of privilege that leaves them feeling entitled but out of touch. Like Boris Johnson who was flummoxed when asked how he was relatable to families; or Jacob Rees-Mogg who failed to understand how insulting he was to the dead of Grenfell by suggesting they would still be alive if only they had his common sense. The working-class young need opportunity because our country’s future needs them and their life experience.

I have no children and I have no grandchildren. But if I did, I would be listening to them in the build-up to this election, and I would be letting them know they matter just as a young Boothroyd felt she did on the streets of Dewsbury.

We have to let them know we are listening again. For if we do, it defines who we are and what we stand for. It will define who they are. And it will define our country and its role in the world for years to come.

Be clear too why Boris Johnson wants Brexit resolved in an election rather than a referendum – he would lose a referendum, now we know as much as we do, not least about the false promises made back then. But he can win a majority with little more than a third of the vote.

As a member of the House of Lords, I don’t have a vote. If I did, I would be motivated as much by what I don’t want as what I do. I do want a Final Say referendum. So I do not want a Johnson majority. To have a chance of getting that democratic choice on Brexit, we have to stop Johnson from running away with this. I genuinely fear for our country if there is too much power in his hands.

Whatever your age, think about the young generation. And try to give them back the future being taken from them.

Betty Boothroyd is the former speaker of the House of Commons