UKIP's colouring book comment - who votes for these idiots?

Can you tell me why you thought letting 16/17 yr olds vote in the Scottish Referendum was shown to be unwise? What effect did it have on the results?

Who is Joey Essex and why do I care about what he says?

'Surely the precedent has been set with the Scottish referendum vote'

Yes, the "progressive" parties will try to use that as a precedent, but we have seen that the common sense party, UKIP, will oppose the progressives.

Joey Essex, the luvvies' mascot, was on TV last night and told a BBC reporter that after meeting Nick Clegg, he discovered that his party was called the Liberal Democrats rather than the Liberal Democats and he said that Nick Clegg was "an honest man". The rest of us are too long in the tooth and have been round the block too many times to fall for Nick Clegg's chirpy chatter, we know all about the College of Europe crap.

Surely the precedent has been set with the Scottish referendum vote, which included 16 and 17 yr olds. I think that if they are actually bothered to go and vote then that's a big improvement on the huge numbers of over-18s who can vote but can't be bothered.

I would have voted completely sensibly aged 16/17, and probably for the same party as I do now. So much for getting "wiser" as I get older!

'It comes after reports the Lib Dems, if in coalition again, would only agree to a poll if 16 and 17-year-olds and UK-based EU residents could take part.'

So Nick Clegg, the College of Europe graduate, would deny a referendum on the European Union to everyone in the country unless 16 and 17 year olds were included. I wonder why. Does he think the rest of us wouldn't fall for his College of Europe claptrap?

Sixteen is too young?

You can get married and leave home without permission (in Scotland) but you aren't old enough to vote?

Here's Joey. I'm surprised it wasn't combined wih charidee Red Nose Day.

"The star, who has been open about his lack of political knowledge and the fact that he has never voted, has raised eyebrows after referring to Nick Clegg as Nick Leg and vowing to vote for Ed Milliband, despite only knowing that he represents a 'red' party."

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3014343/Joey-Essex-set-grill-main-party-political-leaders-ahead-General-Election-despite-having-never-voted.html

I think 16 and 17 is too young to vote. The socialists always want that age group to vote because they think they have a better chance of catching them. As they grow older, they grow wiser and that is when the socialists begin to lose them.

Have you seen the patronising Joey Essex voting stuff? I wonder who funded it? It wouldn't surprise me if it were some sort of charidee (handing out free colouring books) funded from the pensioners' purse? Politicians will be there to scoop up the vote and some of the PPEs will be speaking mockney, highfiving and saying "cool" to get down with it.

This UKIP policy confirms what I thought all along. UKIP are the common sense party, and some of the other Joeys and the luvvies have lost it.

I must check DS's stance on the Common Agricultural Policy when I get home. I'm pretty sure they covered it in the KS1 art curriculum.

When I was a very smug 16 or 17 year old I was very politically conscious. I would have used my vote wisely. Unfortunately I felt too many of my class-mates lacked political astuteness, and should not be given the vote....

At 42 I believe that, on the whole, teenagers are more likely to use their vote in a considered fashion than I do. I'm old, and cynical, and tend to think that politics is simply a game. I think a bit of idealism in politics is a good thing - and giving the vote to 16 year olds can bring this idealism to the table.

However, my 13 year old ds, and 14 year old dd are deeply suspicious of the vote, and think that it should be reserved for 18+ year olds. I'm not even sure that they don't think a return to a voting age of 21 is called for.

Perhaps this is the politically-charged brainwashing colouring book they are referring to?!

Exactly gin!

Let 16 year old vote. There are overy 18 year old with odd ideas voting.

Othehugemanatee, if voting was restricted to people who had a grasp of the issues involved, who had a Scooby about what was going on and who didn't have black and white thinking I'd guess 80% of the current electorate wouldn't be getting their voting cards....

I think 16 and 17 year olds probably have as good a grasp of the issues as the rest of the electorate tbh.

That's not saying very much, admittedly, as I think most people have a very poor understanding of what they're voting for, but that's the nature of democracy, isn't it?

I absolutely think 16 or 17 is too young to have any kind of grasp of the issues involved. Most teenagers have at best very black-and-white thinking about politics, and more likely not a scooby about what's going on. Whatever reason you give, under-18s should not be voting on something as important as EU membership. Or indeed in general elections.