ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now then, if you are under 30 years old and have been to university the chances are you are not very well paid, you don’t even own your own house or flat and you are have been saddled with thousands of pounds of debt.  Now if you are over 55 or so your chances are quite different.  Are the younger generation therefore facing some kind of a bleaker future from their elders?  In a moment I’ll speak to the President of the National Union of Students, Toni Pearce, but first here’s Sky’s Political Correspondent Anoushka Astana with her report.  

ANOUSHKA ASTANA: This is 20 year old Kishan and 63 year old Dennis.  A generation apart the two men have had very different opportunities when it comes to housing.  

DENNIS: We got the house very cheap for a number of reasons and that was in the mid-70s and by time we came to sell it in 2005 it had just exploded, perfect words.  

KISHAN: For me it doesn’t really look very likely that I’ll be getting my own house or own apartment very soon.

DENNIS: I totally sympathise with you today because my feeling is people with a bit of money are doing buy to let, making it difficult for young people to buy properties and …

ANOUSHKA ASTANA: And Kishan isn’t only worrying about when he might move out of his parent’s home.

KISHAN: A few years ago uni fees were £3600 per year, I’ve just started university and my course is five years long.  Uni fees are £9000 so I’m going to be £45,000 worse off and I don't know how I feel about it if I’m not going to do a job straight after uni.

DENNIS: You have my sympathy because I think it’s ridiculous, I think it’s that they’ve brought in these fees, you know, how are you expected to pay that back and achieve getting a mortgage for somewhere to live, paying rent etc.  It’s just not feasible.  

ANOUSHKA ASTANA: So is the problem an unfair focus from politicians on to older voters?  Some say it is wrong to plough money into free universal benefits for pensioners.

DENNIS: The winter fuel allowance and the freedom pass, they don’t cost that much and when you think that people of my generation – I’m sorry for your generation but I have to think about my generation, we scrimped and scraped and...

ANOUSHKA ASTANA: And perhaps Dennis’s generation gets listened to because it votes in much larger numbers.

KISHAN: For me, my biggest issue is that young people don’t vote enough.  If you look at the Scottish referendum a whole bunch of 16 to 18 year olds got involved because they felt included, they felt that had a responsibility.

DENNIS: Why isn’t there political education in school?  You can have political education without favouring any one particular party.  I would support your campaign from the bottom of my heart.

DM: There you are, the generation gap, the wealth gap and as I say, I’ve got Toni Pearce, the President of the NUS here for her reaction and she was nodding along with a lot of what was said there.  Do you feel in a way that my generation has stolen your generation’s future?

TONI PEARCE: I don't think I’d put it exactly that way.  I mean I think there is definitely a huge difference between the way that your generation has lived and lives now and my generation.  My generation is the first in history to be worse off than their parents, accommodation costs are through the roof, the cost of living is hugely problematic for young people but I also don’t think, I mean I would echo what was said in that film, that I don't think it is about pitting generations against each other, I don't think it is about saying your generation has stolen from mine, I think it is about the people who make decisions making them for your generation and not mine.  

DM: Well let’s talk about exactly that, let’s talk about the people making decisions because I am a lot closer to pensionable age than you are and I am being told that when I do get it, there’s a triple lock on pensions, that guarantee that it will always go up at 2.5% or inflation, whichever is the highest.  Don’t you think that’s unfair, that it should be taken away?

TONI PEARCE: I don’t think it is about taking away from previous generations or generations who are about to retire, I think it’s about seeing a kind of parity and quality between people who have power and people who don’t have power and people who have money and people who don’t have money.  Actually I don't think this is about young people and older people, I think there are lots of people in your generation who live in poverty who need support as there are lots in mine and actually I think the reality is …

DM: But as Anoushka mentioned there, universal benefits, rich pensioners, what’s the point of them having winter fuel allowance and free TV licences and things like that?   

TONI PEARCE: Well I would argue that pensioners who need those allowances should get them but I also would argue that people need to start thinking about the people in my generation who are also living in poverty and actually I think the reality is you can make decisions that benefit people living in poverty regardless of their age, the reality is that people make decisions that benefit those people that turn out to vote and unfortunately that’s your generation more than it is mine and …

DM: Isn’t it up to you then to galvanise your generation, get them to register and say it does count?

TONI PEARCE: Absolutely and I think that’s absolutely why NUS’s priority at the moment is making sure young people do turn out and vote and show that they need to have their voices heard and that these problems will only change if young people become a powerful political demographic I think.

DM: What about specific proposals, it seems to have gone away and Labour were talking about it, a graduate tax? That those who went through the university system, got their tuition fees paid and in many cases got full grants, left debt free, all doing quite well now, living in houses with a lot of equity in them and doing decent jobs, don’t you think it would be fair to hit them with a bit of extra taxation to pay for what they’ve had?

TONI PEARCE: I do think that education should be paid for through taxation and it is a really important public service, particularly higher education in our country at the moment serves a really important economic purpose and we wouldn’t be able to sustain our country without people who are highly educated.  Actually I think asking people to contribute through income tax to pay for public services shouldn’t be unrealistic, people shouldn’t be shocked about the idea that you pay for public services through taxation, that’s how it works.

DM: Some people are.  

TONI PEARCE: I am more than happy to pay for pensioners to get winter fuel allowance through my tax and I am more than happy to pay for people to go to university through my tax as well, I think that’s how a society should work.  …

DM: Good to talk to you, Toni, thank you very much indeed, President of the National Union of Students there, Toni Pearce.