Young Tories and second choices: what the Birmingham vox-pop shows
BBC News has asked young Conservatives who they would vote for if the Conservative Party did not exist.
The interviews were filmed at the party's annual conference in Birmingham. The video was published on 5 October 2026 BBC News. The question is hypothetical. The people answering are real.
The film is titled "How would young Tories vote if the Conservative Party didn't exist?" It is hosted by BBC News on its video pages. The premise is simple. Members are asked to name an alternative if their own party was off the ballot.
That question was put to a party which knows it has a problem with young voters. YouGov data cited by the BBC said the Conservatives won 8% of the under-25 vote at the last election, down from 21% in 2019 BBC News. The BBC presented the wider project as "Meet the young Conservatives fighting to change their party". The BBC also reported that Conservative MPs and activists said the party faces a crisis unless it wins more support among younger people BBC News.
Talk on the conference fringe, the side events around the main hall, has included an American comparison. Pew analysis of exit polls said Donald Trump won 46% support among young men in the 2024 US election, up seven points from 2020 Reuters. A separate Reuters report said 43% of young voters described Republican positions as "mainstream" Reuters.
The broader context here is how parties use conference. The yearly gathering works like a temperature check on the activist base. The youth wing gets close attention because it is small, visible and often speaks bluntly on camera. A vox-pop, a run of short on-the-spot interviews, does not measure public opinion. It tests language, loyalty and second preference in a low-risk setting.
What this suggests for Conservative strategy is less about any single answer than the pattern. Second choices give a clue to where votes could go if turnout slips or if voters look elsewhere. They also give a clue to what young activists think Conservatism is for. Is it economic arguments about tax, housing and work, a cultural identity, or a habit picked up from family? Professionals will listen for which definition comes through without prompting.
In my view, the Birmingham setting matters too. Interviews at conference catch activists when they are most engaged and surrounded by like-minded people. That can encourage candour. It can also encourage performance. Westminster watchers will treat the footage as colour rather than data, and read it alongside the hard numbers on under-25 support. The numbers explain why the question was asked. The answers suggest how much work remains to give younger voters a reason to stay.
