`I'll not vote for any of them - it won't change a thing'

Persuading Pascal Smart, and a probable three million like him to vote on 1 May will be one of the biggest challenges facing John Major and Tony Blair during the campaign.

The 24-year-old aspiring musician from Croydon will be following the election campaign closely, but only from a position of "amused superiority". He has no intention of voting. Research suggests that only 40 per cent of the under-25s will vote.

Nothing short of the closure of all nuclear power stations would make Mr Smart change his mind. "I just don't think any of the main parties handle any of the things that are important - especially for young people in this country," Mr Smart said en route to his evening job as a pounds 120- a-week barman. "I'd put the environment higher on the agenda, the decriminalisation of cannabis and the general treatment of youth."

"Young people are basically being disenfranchised. We're being paid a slave wage so that the Government can make more money out of us. If Labour get in, which they probably will, they will just be running the same system in a slightly different way, which doesn't really solve anything, because it's the system which is the problem."

Mr Smart voted for "the lesser of two evils" (Labour) at the last election. This time he does not feel he can even do that. "I don't personally trust Tony Blair, mainly because of the fact that he is so insistent that we can trust him. Essentially, all the Labour Party can say is that the Tory party can't lead the country and they can, but they don't say in what way.

"Take the environment, for example. The Tory party policy is to build more roads and the Labour Party policy is to say: `That's wrong.' It's just a slanging match."

There is, he said, a problem with the status quo. "Young people are under the impression that this establishment has been the same for hundreds of years and nothing will ever change. I myself think the only way anything will change is revolution. The existing trend towards large environmental problems will probably cause that. If it doesn't, we'll go out quietly."

He has no respect for any of today's politicians. "They don't have any more foresight than wondering what is going to be the most popular policies and appealing to the lowest common denominator," he said.

He would, however, be happy to vote for better policies "if anyone came up with any," regardless of the cost to his own pocket.

He liked the idea of participating in a pre-election television debate. "Oh yes," he said, his eyes lighting up. "I'd ask them questions about the environment, human rights and about how to take the system down, back to its foundations, and back again in a more successful manner."

But to Mr Smart's mind, there is no point in him voting. Labour, he said, is going to win anyway. "I don't think it would change anything. I don't think it would make any difference - except that Croydon is a marginal constituency."

He is not really fussed about the result. "I'll hopefully be leaving the country and buying a remote island in the South Pacific as soon as possible, so I won't mind either way."