Young voters ready and motivated in bellwether Bury

This week ITV News is gauging the views of people across the UK ahead of June's General Election to find out "What Matters" to them. In this edition, we travelled to Bury to hear from young voters.

• Article by Jamie Roberton and video report by ITV News Correspondent Martin Geissler

It voted Tory under Thatcher, shifted to Labour under Blair before swinging back to the Conservatives for Cameron.

Bury North is the ultimate bellwether seat and its population’s remarkable knack of choosing the next governing party means this small working-class town will be closely watched over the next 45 days.

Jeremy Corbyn must win back this marginal seat if he has any chance of defying the polls and becoming the next prime minister; Theresa May must retain it if she is to win an historic landslide.

The north-west of England will be one of the fiercest battlegrounds in the race for Number 10 and all parties will be fighting for an elusive prize: the youth vote.

More than 100,000 people under the age of 25 have registered to vote since the election starting gun was fired last week.

Sarah Mason, 18, a first-time voter and student, believes this is a statement of intent from a demographic previously chastised for their failure to get to the polling booth.

“Politicians should spend time addressing young people instead of undermining their political opinion - many people assume we are not engaged in politics but we are," she said.

Josh Morris, a young entrepreneur who started his own thriving rubbish collection business after the council reduced its own service, says his vote will go to the party which shows strength on the issue of tax avoidance.

“Problems in the NHS, prisons, social care, council cutbacks all stem from the fact we can’t bring in enough money and people don’t seem to pay their fair share.”

The Conservatives have focused their early campaign efforts on attacking Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, depicting him as unfit to run and protect the country.

Mr Morris has no issue with the prospect of a Prime Minister Corbyn, but advises the Labour leader to be “pragmatic, not ideological” in his pitch to undecided voters.

“He's honest, honourable and says what he's going to do…but he has to play the game.”

Joe Dyche, however, has seen his faith in the party severely dented by Mr Corbyn’s performance - or lack of one - on the most important issue to him.

“The EU referendum was a very important thing for me and the fact the leader didn’t seem to think of it as a priority at the time is really upsetting - someone like Tony Blair in his position would have done so much more,” the bar manager said.

“It makes me think: are they strong enough to lead the country?”

Despite his disillusionment, Mr Dyche still trusts Mr Corbyn - and not Theresa May - to best protect the National Health Service and help him realise his dream of owning his own home.

“I feel great pride in the NHS; it’s an absolutely wonderful thing but the way budgets and frontline services have been cut is a major issue.

"My grandad was seriously ill recently and he had amazing care. But what happens next time if there’s one less nurse on the ward, one less doctor for him to see or one less ambulance to pick him up?”

The future of the health service is also a major factor in care worker Rachel Cookson’s decision.

“Working with elderly people and seeing them being discharged too early when they need more care is upsetting.

"It feels like they don’t really care about them.

“If a politician turned around and said they were going to help improve the NHS, they would get my vote.”

As she prepares to have her say in a general election for the first time, Sarah Mason believes politicians could earn the trust of young people by simply showing them more respect.

“I don’t think the majority of people in this country trust politicians - instead of ignoring our demographic they should engage with it a lot more.”

Previously disinterested and overlooked, young people are politically motivated and ready to choose who they want to shape their future.

And in Bury, there is a clear appetite to base that decision on policy - not personality.