Our country’s diverse next generation of young people is brimming with talent, commitment and a desire to shape the world around them. As this report captures, they want opportunities to demonstrate what they can do, but are conflicted on whether to be optimistic or very pessimistic about whether they’ll get them.

This research highlights many of the issues the young working class people at RECLAIM sessions talk to us about. We should be deeply worried that half of young people don’t expect to be in a good job and have somewhere decent to live in 5 years time and that a similar proportion are really struggling with their mental health right now.

We should be especially concerned that a minority of young people are finding themselves seduced by the racist conspiracy theories they’re exposed to on social media platforms that urgently need regulating.

This generation of young people carries not just their own hopes but those of their families and communities. If we fail to meet the hard work of those leaving school, college and university halfway by providing better opportunities, support and routes to being heard, we risk seeing many more people losing faith in our politics and economy.

Young people – especially those marginalised by their class background, race, religion, disability, sexuality or other factor – will need a wide range of reforms to deal with the impact of COVID-19. There’s no one right answer, but there is one way that guarantees we always get better answers: by asking young people what they think. It’s great to see this work from HOPE not hate charitable trust doing just that.