The basic idea that the next generation will have it better than previous ones is a founding belief for most of us. A new piece of research published today by the John Smith Centre, however, shows that young people today no longer believe it to be true.

Asked which political leader best represents British values, 45 per cent failed to name any current leader

Asked which political leader best represents British values, 45 per cent failed to name any current leader

The UK Youth Poll, sponsored by Nationwide Building Society, is one of the largest pieces of research into ‘Gen Z’ across the UK, involving 2,000 16–29-year-olds, and more than 200 individual interviews and focus groups.

The overwhelming message we heard back suggests that young people are losing faith with an economic and political system that simply isn’t delivering on their basic needs.

We heard from a trainee nurse in Bristol, sharing a house with five others, paying £800 for a room, who wanted to know why some of her colleagues couldn’t find a job, and would have to work in Tesco’s after they qualified.

There was the dance teacher in Glasgow who spoke about how graduates had been “sold a dream”, done the right thing, got an education, only to then discover that the promised land of jobs and rising wages wasn’t available.

Or the young student who summed up the response of older generations: “be grateful and stop buying avocado on toast”.

As another put it, the “social........

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