‘Out of touch’ & ‘snowflakes’ are just some of the phrases thrown around to describe the generation that was written off and forgotten after the EU referendum last June - their futures stolen.

One year later and things have moved on unrecognisably, delivered by the sheer numbers in which young people across our nation turned out to vote on Thursday, 8 June.

Under-25s voting in last week's election rose 12 points, research by NME found and some pollsters saying 72% of the young electorate turned out.

Pointless squabbling was my honest first impression of the politics of our country. What about the issues that matter to me? That matter to young people?

The unfortunate mix of wanting to better my life chances, which forces me to carry a mountain of debt; the stigmatism of mental health, and the housing ladder, are just some of the issues that matter to me.

As CEO of Xplode Magazine, the young people that I regularly meet tell me the same things, that politics just ‘isn’t interesting’ and ‘voting doesn’t matter.’

I began to notice an initial shift in the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election in May. Labour’s Andy Burnham and the Conservatives’ Sean Anstee put forward a vision for the young people of our region.

From transport pledges tackling the cost burden on young people, to opening up pathways through new infrastructure for apprenticeships and a focus on full-time volunteering programmes.

The surge in the youth vote was unprecedented at last weeks' General Election, but this renewed focus on young people is no doubt on course to put to bed the status-quo.

Young people have long been excluded from the core-vote that politicians of all political shades clamber after.

We can’t afford to go back to business as usual; we must keep force behind the momentum engaging more young people in their democratic right.