Bim Afolami, the Conservative MP for Hitchin & Harpenden, has urged his party to consider a number of radical policies aimed at winning over millennial voters.

He wants under 40s to pay lower rates of national insurance (NI), and advocated for the government to build more social housing and new garden cities.

Mr Afolami made the suggestions at the launch event for a report looking into the lack of support for the Conservatives among millennials. He contributed the foreword for the report, by the centre-right Onward think tank.

Millennials, aged 25-40, make up more than a quarter of the adult population, but support for the Conservatives among them is low.

Onward found that 45 per cent of millennials would vote for the Labour party in a general election held tomorrow, compared to just 21 per cent who would vote for the Conservatives.

Millennials are also the first generation in recent history not to become more likely to vote Conservative as they get older.

Among the issues that they see as priorities are housing and taxation - which are not top five issues for the population as a whole.

Onward's report found that millennials say they want to prioritise equality over economic growth. But, when millennials were asked about individual policy preferences, they prioritised lower taxes over economic redistribution. In fact, millennials were found to be more right-wing than the average person on economic policy.

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Mr Afolami told the launch event that he thinks that the Conservatives, over the last ten years, have "neglected" to focus their messaging on "the amount of money people have in their own pockets".

To rectify the situation, he suggested making a "significant" cut to national insurance for people under the age of 40, "particularly focused on those who have student loans". 

He said that the issue is "really, really important" and that his party will have a "huge, huge problem" unless it finds ways to bring down marginal tax rates for millennials.

By the end of 2022, young graduates paying the basic-rate of tax were subject to an effective marginal rate of 41 per cent, with that rising to 51 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers.

NI is paid by workers aged between 16 and the age at which they become eligible for their state pension, with older workers therefore paying no NI. Mr Afolami suggested there was a "need to flip that round", and reduce NI for younger people instead.

Mr Afolami also promoted several policy changes aimed at making it easier for millennials to get on the housing ladder. Homeowners are significantly more likely to vote for the Conservatives than renters and those in social housing.

The MP for Hitchin & Harpenden said that the government should be "building lots of housing", including social housing with the right-to-buy embedded.

He wants a "whole generation" of new garden cities, and would also bring back help-to-buy ISAs at treble the previous value.

The scheme, which ended in 2019, allowed people to invest up to £12,000 and receive a 25 per cent 'bonus' from the government. Mr Afolami would like people to be able to invest £36,000 into the ISAs - enough for a 10 per cent deposit, with the average house price in England being £308,000.

He also suggested that the Conservative party needs to change its rhetoric to win over millennials - "unless we actually look like we like young people, they are not going to like us".

Giving home-working as an example, Mr Afolami recognised the benefits it can bring to families and expressed frustration that some Conservatives suggest home-workers are "all just woke lefties".