Election 2015: Greens to promise £1.1bn extra a year into youth services

The Green Party plan to win over younger voters by promising to pump in an additional £1.1bn ($1.6bn) a year of funding into youth services.

The pledge will be announced when Natalie Bennett launches her party's "Youth Manifesto" at the Kentish Town Community Centre in London.

The Greens said the extra investment would create 2,000 new Young People's Centres and the party leader will set out the Greens' key commitments for young people.

These include an end to tuition fees, the restoration of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and the scrapping of benefit caps and sanctions.

Bennett will speak alongside deputy leader Amelia Womack, who is expected to argue that the Greens can "inspire a political generation".

"I feel that when young people are given something to vote for then, just as we experienced with the Scottish referendum, they engage and participate. It's clear that the policies set out in this Youth Manifesto - an end to austerity, an end to tuition fees, and real solutions to the housing crisis - are proving that the Green Party can inspire a political generation," she will say.

The party's youth win, the Young Greens, have grown more than tenfold in just over a year to more than 17,700 members.

But a survey from YouthSight, which questioned young people, found support for the Greens had plummeted from 28% in February, down to 15%.

Elsewhere, Labour saw their popularity jump to 35% and the Tories also grew their youth support with a 25% ranking.

The latest national opinion poll from YouGov, conducted between 18 and 19 April, put the party on 5%, with just weeks to go before election day on 7 May.

The survey, of than 1,600 voters, also put Labour on a one point lead over the Tories (35% vs 34%), with Ukip on 13% and the Liberal Democrats on 8%.