to think that lowering the voting age to 16 is a stupid idea?

[CrystalTipsandAlista1r]

in fact, I'd rather it was raised to 25.

Senua False equivalence. There is very clearly a difference between political discourse and actively participating in sex.

That just sounds like you are trying to stifle youths holding any opinions.

YABU it might help 16 year olds become politically aware if they were actually able to vote.
I was living alone and working full time to support myself at 16 and its kind of ridiculous i did not get to have any say in how a society i was fully participating in was run.

As pp have said 16 year olds have so many other rights that it is ridiculous they cant also vote.

It would also help address the age skewing of voting. The population is ageing and there needs to be some balance otherwise young peoples futures are going to end up being completely dictated by people who are generations older than them and who dont have to live very long with the consequences of their choices.

What about keeping the vote at 18 standard, but you can vote at 16 if you meet the following criteria -

• Have a job that you pay tax on.

• Live independently/with a partner/are married

• If you have DC of your own

I was working and would have had a DC at 16/17 if I had not miscarried. I believe I should've had the right to vote, after all, I was making a contribution to this country and as such think I deserved to be heard

It would also help address the age skewing of voting. The population is ageing and there needs to be some balance otherwise young peoples futures are going to end up being completely dictated by people who are generations older than them and who don't have to live very long with the consequences of their choices.

Last I heard it was one person, one vote. You are not somehow special because you may (or may not, who knows what the future holds) live for a few years more than someone else.
Shall we take the vote off those with life-limiting illnesses? According to you, Stephen Hawking should have been silenced decades ago.
You do know, don't you, that elections roll round regularly and the now-16/17 year olds will have their turn in the sun.

The issue though is that they are less young people & an aging population which is likely to continue so no they won’t necessarily get their “time in the sun”.

BabyAndMee but then you are saying individuals out of education are more deserving of a vote than those still in education. You can represent some but not others based on life choices like that.

Besides, some of the people I know who left school at 16 have no head for politics (and still no better now 14 years later), whereas even at 16 I was very politically engaged.

I would not support the vote being given to children.

There is an age, currently 18, where society has decided that someone becomes an adult, takes on adult responsibilities and loses some of the protections of being a child.

For me, the ability to vote is part of those adult responsibilities.

If 16 year olds are to be given the vote, then the age of majority also needs to be 16. Voting is not a ‘practice’ for adult life, and important decisions should not be made by those who are legally still minors.

I have no view about whether the age of majority should be lowered, actually. I just think voting should continue to be for adults only (and if society decides 16 year olds should legally be adults, great - then let them vote).

At sixteen there are many mature knowledgable kids who could vote sensibly, however there are many more who would vote for who their friends are voting for/ who pledges to legalise cannabis etc.
Its well known that many schools are very left leaning (not saying a left vote is wrong) but their political education may not be as unbiased as it should be, without real life experience its very difficult to form your own opinions and really understand the consequences of their vote.

Lower the voting age to 16, put in a maximum age of 80.

I've been a doctor since I was 22. A taxpayer since 16. My friend was in the navy, working in Faslane at 17. I presume you're simply being goady saying it should be 25.
However all the 16yos I know are much more politically switched on than many of thr 40 year olds. Loads of people choose their vote for stupid reasons.

Perhaps you think there should be some sort of intelligence test? I wonder if you'd pass..?
(Disclaimer: obviously this is undemocratic and a terrible idea)

Working with teenagers, I've met a lot of 16 year olds with their heads screwed on much tighter than some adults who just vote for what the daily mail tells them to!

Case 1

"Ooh, that Tony Blair's gorgeous, isn't he? I'm defiinitely voting for him, I don't think we've ever had a sexy PM before" - 38 year old, who has travelled the world.

Case 2

"I can't stand New Labour. Bring back the old guard, they knew how to fight for the workers. This lot are useless, they'll ruin the country. I hate voting for them" Why not vote for someone else then? "I'm Labour. I've always been Labour." Even though you think they're useless? "Yes. I'm Labour. I'll always be Labour." - 70 year old, more intelligent than you'd think.

Case 3

"I'm voting Labour for my Dad." - 42 year old son of above.

Age doesn't bring wisdom, OP. Just wrinkles.

If your're old enough to fight for your country then you are old enough to vote for the people making the decisions.

If 16 is deemed to young to make mature decisions then they shouldn't also be able to give their lives.

I was in the armed forces at 17 and it was ridiculous that I couldn't vote.

16 year olds, in general, haven't got the awareness of the world to make that kind of decision

On balance I agree. I don't dispute that some are much more aware, just as some adults are clueless, but a line has to be drawn somewhere and for me 18 sounds about right

I'm not convinced it would make much difference anyway, if the reported voting figures for 18 - 24s are anything like accurate. They might make a lot of "noise" on FB, Instagram, Twatter and all the rest, but I very much doubt 16 year olds would turn out in any great numbers

No I don't think 16 year olds are old enough to vote. There's a reason why the are you can buy cigarettes was rightly changed from 16 to 18,as a 16 year old should be treated as the child they are. We also don't let 16 year old children drink alcohol, drive or get a tattoo for the same reason.

But I also don't think they should be able to join the army at 16 or work full time for the same reasons. Think education in some form should be compulsory until 18.

The grey area between 16 and 18 is unhelpful, and things that require the maturity of an adult (like driving) should be changed to 18.

The comparison to smoking or drinking or driving makes no sense at all. Take each thing on it's own merits.

You don't endanger your health by voting. You don't vote and then pass out covered in your own vomit. You can't kill someone by voting too fast.

Some 16 year olds care enough to vote, and they should be allowed to. Those who don't care.... won't vote. Which leaves us with those who don't care but still vote, and there are plenty of 18+ year olds who do that currently. Unless you want some sort of voting eligibility test then that is a terrible argument. A line has to be drawn somewhere, but that line is too high if we are excluding people who want to vote but can't for completely arbitrary reason.

To say a 16 or 17 year old is not affected by decisions made by politicians is absurd, and they have a right to have their say, or indeed to get a job. I was working at 16 as well as being in full time education. I was interesting in politics and in the end had to wait until I was 22 before I could vote because of the timing of the GE.

YANBU

given the hysteria on here on a thread yesterday about a 15 year old going out on her own I don’t think such mollycoddled teens should be able to vote.

People always go on about how they can work, contribute to society and are wonderfully politically engaged but tbh most are just school children. They get to vote at 18, it’s hardly an undue hardship to have to wait 2 years, its not held the rest of us back for life 🙄

If your're old enough to fight for your country then you are old enough to vote for the people making the decisions.

If you were in the military at 17 as you claim then I'd expect you to know that you can't deploy on operations until you're 18.

"If your're old enough to fight for your country then you are old enough to vote for the people making the decisions."

You can join up, and you can train as a junior, but you cannot be sent on operations until 18.

It's an argument for keeping voting age at 18, surely?

Because 16-18year olds are more like children these days (in education etc) than in my generation where leaving school and starting work (or going ont he dole as I think you then couldH was much more common, and even though young marriage was become rarer, it still happened (one form my school year married and set up home the August after O levels/CSEs). You just don't see that these days.

And if your 13 y.o. said she had an 'interest' in sex, would you encourage that too? Would you say that she was mature enough?

That’s a poor interpretation of my use of the word “interest”. She can have discussions with me, and indeed argue with her grandparents, about her political views. They don’t match my views or DH’s, and she keeps up to date with current affairs in politics and is often informing me of things that have happened. She hasn’t just declared “I am interested in politics!”.

I wouldn’t agree to lowering the voting age to 13, I was merely pointing out that she, at 13, is far more ready to vote than plenty of 40 year olds I know.

Furthermore - many people are 20-22 before they actually have the chance to cast their first vote. My DS’s girlfriend will have completed her degree (+ borrowed £50k from the government to do so, and possibly started paying it back) because she was born in July 1999. Lowering the voting age to 16 would mean the first chance to cast your vote would come aged 16-20, rather than 18-22.

As far as I am aware you need parental consent to join the army at 16. And to marry at 16. Don't think you start paying tax until 18.
No representation without taxation if I am correct on this.
Happy to be told I have it wrong.

What tiggytape and BakedBeans47 said ^^

Gussy my dd is 16 and pays income tax. As we're in Scotland she is essentially an adult. Many of the things she can't do (or can only do with my permission) she can do here if she so chooses.

The biggest hypocrisy/irony is she could stand for election but not vote! Bonkers!

Have sex at 16 legally.
Have a child at 16 legally.
Get a job and work 40 hours at 16 legally.
Join army and be trained to kill at 16 legally.
Sign contracts at 16 legally.
Get married legally at 16 legally.

Voters as a whole often make choices based on feelings (too many immigrants) as opposed to facts (every survey shows UK voters vastly overestimate the number of immigrants in the UK). If voters in this country made rational, informed, considered choices based on facts that took time to learn then I can understand a reluctance to extend the vote. But voters are very much as malleable and irrational at 18, 25, 40, 50, or even 99 as they are at 16.

I dont think voting at 16 is a stupid idea. I would prefer an actual demonstrable ability to make informed decisions to be the criteria to be honest.