Young men are flocking to Reform because Nigel Farage is telling them what they want to hear: That they have a voice and it matters, says Oliver Dean
British politics appears to have been tipped on its head. Young men who were once considered a sure thing for Labour are now flocking to Reform UK. While many claim this is only a phase and that the electoral situation will return to normal, the trends suggest the possibility of a bigger change in the political makeup of Britain. If major parties cannot win these young voters back, Reform will continue to grow in size.
Britain is an outlier when it comes to young people and their willingness to adopt right-wing values. In Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, support for conservative parties amongst those aged 20-30 sits between 30-40 per cent. Britain is unusual in that it sits at the 10% mark, significantly lower than other countries around the world. But despite this rejection of conservative values amongst younger people, Reform have been successful in accumulating support from this very specific type of voter.
Broadly, this is because of Reform’s strategy. Compared to both Labour and the Conservatives, Reform are much more ‘on the ball’ when it comes to their online presence. 60 per cent of TikTok’s user base, for example, are Gen Z. Reform have seized this opportunity, expanding into the social media marketplace and making their mark. As of February 2025, Reform have amassed more than 350,000 followers on the platform, higher than both the Labour Party’s 230,000 and the Conservatives’ 85,000 put together.
Gen Z’s prospects have vanished before their eyes
Coupled with this is the environment young people have grown up in. Gen Z have witnessed their future prospects vanish in front of their eyes. Their chance of going to university was dented on account of the tuition fees rise. Their chance of securing a job vanished as a result of an increasingly small and competitive job market. Even the possibility of young people owning their own house has disappeared, with a national backlog of more than four million homes.
When young people in Britain have grown up in a country where the political establishment has failed them, it makes perfect sense they will turn to alternative parties at the ballot box. But this does not account for Reform’s success with young men in particular.
Indeed, there is still a huge divide between women’s and men’s voting patterns when it comes to Reform. Of those who voted and were aged 18-24 at the time of the election, 12 per cent of men voted for Reform compared to just six per cent of women. 35 per cent of 17 year old men stated they would vote for Reform if they could, compared to just 12 per cent of women.
Perhaps the main reason for this gender imbalance is that Reform is able to effectively tap into young men’s sense of disenfranchisement. In what some have labelled an “epidemic of isolated men,” more and more of this social group are turning to online content which reinvigorates a sense of purpose within their lives.
Professor Antony Travers, a specialist in British politics at the London School of Economics, reinforced this hypothesis. He told me that the mainstream parties have “clearly signalled to younger men” that they are “less interested in them.” Reform has made young men feel like they have a stake in British society, something the political establishment has neglected to do for decades.
Reform has made young men feel like they have a stake in British society, something the political establishment has neglected to do for decades
The ideological divide between men and women is not limited to the UK. It is a global phenomenon and is being felt much more strongly in countries such as South Korea, the United States and Germany. But that does not mean the case of the UK should go unobserved.
Young people feel left behind and young men in particular feel voiceless. Farage has told them what they have wanted to hear for years: that their voice does matter and that they have not been forgotten. No other party has recognised this is what young men have been seeking all this time. If Labour and the Tories want to win back their young voters, they need to start creating policies which focus on young people.
Oliver Dean is a political commentator with Young Voices UK. He studies History and Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is the Treasurer of the LSE Hayek Society.