Boris Johnson can’t stop students from voting – the solution to Brexit is more democracy, not less

No number of Johnson’s extravagant Twitter hashtags or embarrassing Snapchat escapades will fool young people into thinking that he serves as leader with our interests at heart

In the midst of his anti-democratic, law-breaking, fibbing frenzy, Boris Johnson tried to stop students from voting.

Much like in his conquests against our laws and our people, he failed. With his desperate, dogged insistence to impose voter ID on the electorate, he displays his continued utter contempt for our country’s most vulnerable. We students can and must make him pay. Despite Johnson’s best efforts to silence so many, the essential truth remains that the power to decide the outcome of the upcoming election lies with us.

The Conservative Party has overseen the decimation of education in the UK over the past decade – both the quality of its provision and the ease of its accessibility – to an unimaginable degree. It simply cannot continue this way, and before us lies an opportunity of a lifetime to deliver mightily yearned-for and much-needed change. A fully funded, lifelong and universally accessible education service is within our grasp.

I mean education for education’s sake, an unquestionable, inalienable right for all, not an exclusive privilege for a select few. This is our guiding principle, which we must protect, extend and ingrain within society. But beyond our education, our votes will decide the nature of the country.

We have a glaringly distinct choice. One option is a future of equality, opportunity and dignity for all, via a democratic Final Say on Brexit. That involves committing to protect migrant rights, taking immediate and necessary climate action – which preserves the habitability of our planet for future generations through a landmark Green New Deal – and ensuring extensive workers’ rights with a real living wage. The other option is a future built in the interests of the decaying disaster-capitalist political elite that Boris Johnson and his Trumpian friends represent.

And let me be absolutely clear: to build an inclusive society fit for generations to come, we need an education system able to nourish depleted spirits and sharpen skills, encourage expression, empower exploration and fill the world with spectacular possibilities.

The possibilities of a fully funded, lifelong education service are limitless. In the election to come, we can end the marketisation of education for good. We can make education and tuition debt-free. We can restore maintenance grants and sufficiently resource student support services. We can ensure necessary funding and access to our wonderful NHS – including desperately needed mental health services – and we can make student accommodation affordable and humane.

In this way, tertiary education in our country can deliver opportunities for meaningful experiences, holistic betterment and community contribution for everybody.

The campaigning capacity of our manifestly neglected students is remarkable: whether it’s tackling extortionate rent and dodgy landlords, organising climate awareness action or successfully demanding post-study work visas for international students. With a national education service, we can be unstoppable.

That is a future worth fighting for, and most definitely worth voting for.

Register to vote – and ensure your friends, flatmates and family are registered too. Take pride in your democratic say, and use it to improve your world, and the world of those around you. If you are under 18, while we continue to struggle for your right to participate, talk to your elders, your uncles and aunts, your parents, grandparents and siblings and – with the energy of the groundbreaking global youth climate strikes – tell them why they should vote in your interests, and the interests of the planet that you will inherit.

As the National Union of Students, we are actively campaigning for the strengthening of our country’s democracy. We must break down barriers to people’s participation. Let’s make votes at 16 a reality, stop the intentionally restrictive voter ID rollout, and make polling day a national holiday to encourage greater turnout. That is the people-powered politics we proudly stand for.

The solution to the many crises before us, in our universities, workplaces and communities, is more democracy, not less. Boris Johnson’s repressive assault on democracy – a ruthless attack on both people and parliament – shows him to be on the wrong side of history. He is the embodiment of the putrid political class that can escape the consequences of any wilful misstep, whether it’s racism, misogyny, pathologic lies or the misuse of public money. No number of his extravagant Twitter hashtags or embarrassing Snapchat escapades will fool young people into thinking that Boris Johnson serves with our interests at heart.

It is my duty to denounce this abhorrent government. In the coming weeks and months we not only have so much to condemn and stop, but even more to fight for and win. Change is within our collective grasp. It’s up to us to reach out and grab it. Both our education sector, and indeed our future depend on it.

Zamzam Ibrahim is the president of the UK National Union of Students