I am about to leave school and head for university and the story you printed about Rachel Chamberlain’s struggle to leave home and lead an independent life is very familiar to many of my friends.

I know I will leave university with huge debts.

I know while I am there I will have to pay massive rents to a private landlord.

I know when I leave I might find it hard to get a job and even harder to find somewhere decent to live that is not with my parents.

In the Budget lots of news-papers commented on how the government helped older people with savings and how they did nothing for young people like me and Rachel.

One question I have for Rachel and all young people who feel the politicians are ignoring us. Does she vote and does she intend to vote in future elections?

Many young people don’t vote and the politicians know this because they register everyone who turns up at polling stations or sends in a postal vote.

Politicians know there are few votes in helping young people.

So the simple answer is for us young people to turn our prob-lem into the politicians’ problem by voting at every opportunity we have.

Young people need to vote for a party that has policies that really will make a difference, and politicians who are prepared to offer something different.

A party that will build more affordable homes, reduce tuition fees and look after the things we know are important like our NHS and planet. Above all else, young people must start voting en masse.

Lloyd Hatton, Bincleaves Road, Weymouth