Zoe Van Cauter is just 18 years old. Tomorrow she will be standing for election to Cheshire East Council.
So why does a Wistaston teenager still at college in Nantwich want to enter the murky world of politics?
When we meet, it’s the first day of election week and she’s managed to fit our interview in around revising for an upcoming A-Level exam and canvassing.
Unlike most 18 year olds, Zoe has to work her studies around her own election campaign.
Despite her young age, the Malbank Sixth Form student is standing in the hope of becoming both a Cheshire East and a Nantwich town councillor.
Zoe, who is studying French, Sociology, and Performing Arts, is by far the youngest candidate standing for the council.
“My birthday was on the closing date for nominations,” she tells me.
“I literally just turned 18!”
It might seem unusual for somebody so young to be engaged with politics, but Zoe has been a signed up Labour supporter since the age of 14.
The decision came after she was “dragged along” to an anti-cuts march in Manchester by her dad.
Zoe feels like her ethics align with Labour’s, as she tells me that she’s “always had an interest in helping people” and she feels like Labour are the party that try to do just that.
Having spent her formative years living under a coalition government, I wonder if that has informed her political leanings.
She says her dad, who works for the British Council in Higher Education and has felt the impact of austerity, would “get quite emotional” if there were to be another coalition.
Similarly, her mum, a photographer who helped design her campaign leaflets, has struggled with housing problems.
We move on to discuss what kinds of issues Zoe will be championing if she were to be elected.
It perhaps comes as no surprise that young people are firmly on her radar, and recently she’s been turning her attention to the campaign for more youth provision in the town.
“It’s really interesting for me because I was on Cheshire East Youth Council, and one of our campaigns was about the same issue.
“It’s an area I’m familiar with and hopefully it’s something I can tackle.”
Alongside this, she mentions she wants to help deal with potholes, as well as paving on the roads in town centres.
The focus on issues that affect young people could be where Zoe’s campaign shines.
She notes there isn’t much political activism at Malbank – something she has been working towards changing by “bringing up politics in almost every lesson”.
The problem, she thinks, is that young people “aren’t politically educated enough” and she’s found Malbank hasn’t offered that kind of education to its students.
“The Labour party want to reduce the voting age to 16, which I think is a really good thing.”
She also notes their plans to reduce tuition fees and to increase apprenticeship opportunities.
Zoe has to rush off to do some more revision, although not before telling me she thinks the ‘Milifandom’ phenomenon is “great” and is doing a fantastic job at tackling the “negative press coverage” he faced.
The election result for Miliband – and all party leaders and candidates – is still uncertain.
But whether it’s Conservative, Labour, Lib Dems, UKIP or Greens, it is encouraging to see teenagers like Zoe so enthusiastic about the political arena.
Zoe will contest for one of two seats on Cheshire East Council to represent Nantwich North and West.
Other candidates are: Steve Beckett (Labour), Penny Butterill (Nantwich First), Harold Cooper (UKIP), Carol Groves (Conservative), Diana Hall (Conservative), Arthur Moran (Nantwich First), James Wood (UKIP).
In Nantwich South and Stapeley, candidates are: Douglas Bowyer-Bates (Labour), Peter Goodwin (UKIP), Peter Groves (Conservative), Stuart Hutton (UKIP), Andrew Martin (Conservative), Rachel Shenton (Labour)
Polls are open from 7am to 10pm tomorrow (May 7), with the count and declaration taking place on Friday between 3pm and 7pm.
You see a full list of all candidates standing in each Cheshire East Council wards here.
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