To think parents should be given a proxy vote for their children

That doesn't mean they are necessarily best placed to vote in their own interests though.

Really, the only issue that should be vexing the next generations are how to cope with climate change.

Tell you what, why don’t we try to improve the system we have; such as

Reform of the House of Lords - make the second chamber electable
Proportional representation - quit the first past the post
No more black / white referenda- more first past the post
Scots/Welsh governments to require second houses/ review on bills - legislation should not be too fast

FWIW I am childless but I care very much about the world my nieces / nephews are inheriting

Well yeah, to be fair it's not a fully thought out policy or idea, that was just a suggestion.

I just think it's an interesting idea and one we should be able to talk about and come up with ideas on rather than everyone just complaining that it's "not fair".

Well the current system isn't exactly fair, children literally have no respresentation in voting. Although 50% of people on this thread seem to say that they do have representation because their parents vote in their interests i.e. split their vote between themselves and their children and the other 50% seem to think it's a bad idea because parents won't vote the same way as their children - also not fair because in that case children are even less represented.

Again, I have no skin in this game (childless) but think people without the capacity to vote are under-represented.

I would say the kids of today are much more politically motivated than my generation was at that age on the whole.

So extremists and controlling arses can have loads more kids to get extra votes and vote for their extremist ideas

Exactly. So you need "life experience" to vote. But it's totally fine if you're ages 95, with mild dementia. Go ahead

Do I? Have you actually read my posts on this thread or are you just a random snark generator

You seem to think we have it to start with.

They can get married (in England they would need parental consent but in Scotland they don’t), that can have children but can’t vote…life experience isn’t needed to have an interest in politics. Loads of people with life experience have mashed tatties between their ears but can vote.

My political views were very different from my parents from the age I became politically aware at about 12. They would never have voted in a way that I woukd have considered aligned with my views.

Well, let's get rid of democracy altogether then!

Agree
And the person down the road with 5 feral tweens should get 6 votes when my husband and I only get 1 each ?
Not voting for this one thanks.

Life isn't fair. deal with it.

"Potentially a way that any child over the age of 11 has the right to withdraw their vote if they feel their parents will not vote in their interests. "

Big no. So families that agree get double the votes of offspring that disagree with their parents over what their interests are and how they're best served. Doesn't sound very fair...

OP YABU for thinking voting does anything other than legitimise corporate power. We may aswell let children vote - hell toddlers. At least then its transparent and everyone can actually see the extent to which we are utterly powerless and held in contempt.

Exactly. Some of our friends have a daughter with Downs Syndrome and it is pretty servere. Even her dad sometimes has trouble understanding what she is trying to say. Her mum claims that the daughter can write but the mum is the only one who can interpret the texts. The mum ensures that her daughter goes to vote st every election. That is just wrong.

It's quite clear older voters don't care about younger people. If they did they would consider sharing their wealth so people can have the families and homes that they did. But they don't and any party that promised to redistribute in this way would be unelectable.

It's an interesting suggestion 😀

Of course but, as a gross oversimplification, if we had 151 people, 50 are children, 50 are parents and 51 are childless. If the 50 parents all vote for what they think would benefit their children (option A) and the 51 that are childless vote for option B (again, gross oversimplification, not saying they all would but they would be more likely to) then option B happens when theoretically option A would have benefitted more people.

I'm childless by the way, I just think this idea makes loads of sense. It would obviously need a bit more thinking though. Potentially a way that any child over the age of 11 has the right to withdraw their vote if they feel their parents will not vote in their interests. But that's just one idea, I'm sure there would be loads.

The assumption with your idea is that older voters don't care about young people. Young people don't know what life is like, and have no clue at all what life is like for the older generations. Whereas older adults do know what life is like, across the ages, and can vote about it intelligently. Whether any voter of any age actually does vote intelligently is by the by. If you're an adult but, say, a young parent, I don't necessarily trust you to know what it's like to be older.

That's exactly why. If parents are honestly considering their children's interests when voting then they are using one vote to represent their own interests plus those of their children. If a single parent has 2 children, that's one vote representing 3 people whereas childless adults have one vote per person.

I wouldn’t support that. But what we should do is think about how we encourage 18-24 year olds to vote. They are the lowest level of voting I believe and their views would be more attended to if they voted in the same proportion as older people.

Nope
I'm right wing - my ds is left wing and has been since he was 16... I don't think voting left wing is in his favour as its filling our country with people we physically cannot house but in sure he would disagree and giving ME a vote on his behalf would not be voting in his direction.

Parents can just vote for what they think would benefit their children though can't they? Having two votes seems inane as they may just contradict each other.