13 young people on why Boris Johnson should resign

If there has been one thing that’s brought students together this past year, it’s our shared hatred for Boris Johnson. For the last 12 months he has overlooked far too many people and we are tired of it. The only honourable thing he has done is roll out the vaccine quickly – every other part of this pandemic has been a monumental fuck up because of his shit leadership.

From failing to mention universtity students in any of his Covid addresses to the nation to saying our return to campus might be delayed until Setepmber, Boris has shown students are at the bottom of his priority list. Not to mention the pathetic NHS staff pay rise of one per cent and his failure to acknowledge teachers should have been in the priorty group for vaccinations before returning to the classroom.

The Tab spoke to 13 young people and got their opinions on why Boris Johnson should resign. All of them agreed he should step down but understand another Tory lizard is most likely just going to replace him.

This is what young people actually have to say about Boris Johnson and why he should resign:

His incompetency has directly wasted a huge chunk of our lives

He doesn’t show integrity or compassion

“He didn’t take the pandemic seriously at the beginning and focused more on a Brexit deal which didn’t fit the promise of what people actually voted for. He was so slow in implementing lockdown rules, changing them constantly meaning the more and more speeches he gave, the less trust we had in him. Things kept changing constantly, everything was so unclear.

“He doesn’t show integrity or compassion, and the one per cent pay rise for nurses was a slap in the face. He claimed British exceptionalism would get us through lockdown, but all he did was fail to implement lockdown rules, PPE and border control (whilst he rewarded his friends).”

Kate

He kept giving false promises

To put it simply: he is a dickhead

“Shambolic handling of the pandemic, neglecting students and vulnerable people, and putting everyone in lockdown way too late. Even with the pandemic aside, he’s not made great decisions and I really don’t believe he’s capable of being a good PM – even for a Tory. To put it simply: he is a dickhead.”

Chandni

I’m a student nurse and it’s taken a toll on my mental  health

“I feel so neglected as a student nurse. We have been left to get on with it and work during the pandemic for free with close to no support and long hours. We’re working on Covid wards for ‘placement’ and having to pick up extra shifts in the hospital and work as healthcare assistants (again on Covid wards) just to be able to get money and it’s draining. We were all out on placement throughout the main part of the pandemic and expected to just get on with it. He has not considered our mental health at all and it has definitely taken a toll. Nurses ‘don’t have time’ to support us in the hospitals and we have been counted in the staff numbers when we aren’t there to learn and be supernumerary.

“Also, student nurses do get a training grant and it does help a lot but that is the only recognition we get. The government just assume we are fine and then we qualify and will be on nearly minimum wage with a shocking one per cent pay rise and no recognition of how physically and mentally draining the job actually is.”

Boris has been playing the blame game and pointing fingers

“I think as a uni student and young person, the stigma surrounding us as a group throughout the pandemic has been so unfair, playing the blame game and pointing fingers at young people when the government have handled it so badly on so many occasions is just appalling. They love to say it’s ‘unprecedented times’ and that ‘they’re doing the best they can’ but the first opportunity they got, they put so much blame on the younger demographic. I think there has also been a total lack of acknowledgement for people’s mental health in general but particularly students. 

“The impact on people’s mental health has been a collateral side effect of the pandemic but the only real awareness that I saw did not come from the government but from social media

“The biggest joke has to have been the clap for the NHS in my opinion. That whole thing was ridiculous and what started as a nice sentiment by a random woman got totally adopted by the Tories and turned into a tactic for hiding their continual underfunding of the NHS.

“And the worst thing is we all know in years to come that Boris will be like Churchill, in that he will become a totally glorified figure by the history books (as always happens) when the pandemic is eventually over. People will forget all the shit calls he made and all the lives lost because of his bad decisions – we’ll just see him as the one who got us through coronavirus. I think there have been too many oversights to count and he should just get in the bin along with the rest of the Tory party.”

Olivia

Uni students were ignored until the government needs someone to blame

“I’m not denying that leading a country during a pandemic must be one of the hardest things to do, however, I think Boris Johnson and the government have continuously forgotten about university students when introducing lockdowns and wider coronavirus restrictions. Every time a lockdown announcement was being made, I would wait to hear something about university students and nothing would ever be said. What makes it worse as well is university students tend to get the blame when coronavirus cases start rising – it’s always our fault. So it seems like uni students are ignored until the government needs someone to blame.”

Sanj

He blatantly disregards the voices of young people

“He has handled the pandemic unbelievably badly. He’s been too focused on trying to revive our dying economy when our current economic standing is irrelevant considering the global economic situation. He’s been too focused on the economy and making it look as though ‘Britain is coming out on top; instead of actually implementing and enforcing measures that will lead to the end.

“Not only does he blatantly disregard the voices of young people (students especially) but he uses us as pawns to help the economy by ‘eating out’ and buying Christmas presents only to turn around and blame us for the coronavirus cases rising because we should have ‘stayed at home’ – it’s really laughable.

“Aside from my personal opinions on his shitty job, the public have lost faith in Boris. He’s not the strong and competent leader we need in these times thus he needs to resign. He’s only digging himself and England into a hole (socially, politically and economically) that he isn’t capable of getting us out of. He needs to leave before it gets any worse.”

Stevie

I’d run outside screaming: Fuck the Tories

“Boris Johnson has been an absolute fool throughout the past year, I get to an extent why he hasn’t resigned (because who doesn’t want to be the face of eventually getting out of a global crisis, queue my statue please sir!) but Boris ignores advice like a newly-dumped girl with a bottle of Echo Falls.

“Something came out recently that showed Boris was the only one to disapprove a second lockdown out of all his advisors and Mr Dominic Cummings (I think this is a Dominic Cummings report on how lockdown could have ended quicker) and I just think – what kind of wavelengths is this man on?

“I honestly used to tune into every Boris announcement as if it were a new series of Love Island, but by this point, I really don’t care what he has to say because he’s either going to make a U-turn like a 17-year-old or he’s going to do a YouTube-style apology video along the lines of: ‘So sorry guys I messed up. Another lockdown it is.’

“I have never been a Tory supporter so maybe this lack of faith is premeditated. Boris Johnson could honestly say he prefers cats over dogs and I’d run outside screaming fuck the Tories.”

Bec

He should have done a better job

“I loved Boris before all of this but he has done a terrible job. Of course, it’s a very difficult situation to have to be in charge of, but he definitely could have and should have done a better job. He should have closed the borders this time last year. I understand he wanted to help protect the economy, but the economy is in a state now regardless. It makes me sad because I was rooting for him as Prime Minister.”

Sophie

He should resign, but unfortunately, they’re all the fucking same

“What makes me angry is a leader who doesn’t lead, neglects his responsibility and misses meetings that are set up during crises. If you look at Johnson’s track record, he changes his mind on a whim. Look at Brexit – he was against it until it suited his political ambition, how can you trust someone like that? The man is a career politician, the epitome of a Tory ruling class.

“Unfortunately, his bumbling manner appeals to the disengaged youth who have ambitions of wealth and not much common sense, those who pine for the lifestyle, the house in Surrey and the cocktail bar. Genuinely makes me sick.

“He is, the Tories and the sympathisers are responsible for over 100,000 deaths. So, yeah. He should resign, but unfortunately, they’re all the fucking same. The only way to evoke any change is for Labour to engage the youth and voting working class with an effective active opposition (rather than Kier Starmer’s passive hindsight, bleugh) and to vote them out.”

James

Every decision around universities has been ill-thought through and reckless

“I think Boris Johnson has indisputably failed young people on a monumental scale. The pandemic has seen countless failures of this government that have affected the entire population but, without a doubt on most occasions, the generation who are affected the most are the young people. Every decision around universities has been ill-thought through and reckless. The failure to adequately work with universities has been disappointing and ultimately the fact there are students in a financial crisis everywhere but the government has chosen to divert their resources to a non-essential free speech champion in a time of emergency is unacceptable.

“We are the generation who will have to live with the financial ramifications of this pandemic, we are the ones who will have to repair the damage caused by Johnson’s inaction, indecision and his unlawful cabinet. Considering the lives lost, the harm done and the number of laws broken by the current cabinet, he should have resigned a long time ago. To resign now would be a mere courtesy but better than nothing.”

Emily

He has blood on his hands

“Boris Johnson literally has blood on his hands. He screwed up massively by locking us down too late, not once but three times; he bragged about shaking hands with patients only to catch Covid himself; and courtesy of him we’ve had too many more fuck ups this year to possibly count.

“We always knew he was incompetent, but now he’s proved how dangerous this can really be, and how it can actually cost lives. Not to mention, he’s almost entirely ignored whole groups of people (students being one), leaving us in the dark and creating a climate of fear and confusion. If anyone else had done all this, he’d undoubtedly be calling on them to resign.”

Related stories recommended by the writer:

• Students’ return to campus ‘might be delayed’ until September, Boris Johnson admits

• You could need a vaccine passport to get into pubs and clubs

• We asked young people to send us their dramatic lockdown transformations