16 & 17 year olds to be given the vote

[Whereishenow]

Just seen this announcement on BBC now. Amazing news!!! Now we just need to try and get youngsters out USING those votes.

I actually think it's a great idea to try get younger people engaged with politics, whatever helps them to feel like they are a part of the conversation is a good thing.

I remember seeing in the news in the last few years I think it was Germany who did this and what actually happened was they overwhelming voted on the right.

I wonder if parties other than reform are ready to fight the elections that we are now seeing with so much played out in podcasts and social media?

I'm quite shocked so many MNs are so anti....

They are all going to go out and vote reform

The young people I know aren't stupid

Thinking about it, I’m not sure it will make much of a difference.

The average reading age in the UK is between 9 and 11 …. an awful lot of people just aren’t very bright 🤷🏼‍♀️

It would be better to make those who already have a vote use it. There are a lot of disillusioned and apathetic voters out there.

Of course there will be some kids who aren't engaged and can't be arsed to get themselves to the polling station, but equally, there will be those who value the opportunity to have their say and see it as a democratic duty. My dd is older now, but she absolutely would have made the effort to vote at 16, as she does now... and yes, she has many more exciting things to do, but she also recognises that some things are important.

They don't make or receive any contribution from our economy so why are they able or allowed to dictate it?

Loads of adults don't either...

So many ageist generalisations on here and I mean that in terms of referring to both young and old.

Another gift for Nigel Farage. Keep em coming Starmer.

What's the point of making disillusioned and apathetic voters vote? If they can't even be arsed to go and put a cross in a box, do you really think they will bother to educate themselves about the options?

If people aren't interested and don't care, it's better that they stay away. We have enough ill-informed voters as things stand.

That's not related to intelligence, that's related to social deprivation and ESL.

I just hope these voting children benefit from the 6500 extra teachers they were promised.

Really interested in what you mean by "switched on"? Do you mean your babysitters views are more in line with your own/more palatable than your grandads? Because I've heard this argument before and that's usually what it boils down to

16 year olds can no longer get married with or without parental consent:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/legal-age-of-marriage-in-england-and-wales-rises-to-18

Published
27 February 2023

"The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022, which gained Royal Assent in April last year, has come into force today (27 February). It means that 16 and 17 year olds will no longer be allowed to marry or enter a civil partnership, even if they have parental consent."

Nor do most 18 year olds. Life experience of earning a living isn't really necessary to see who's best to run the country. If that was the case, long-term unemployed wouldn't have a vote, or a large number of disabled people. Young people know far more about the education system than older votes and many of the decisions taken by government will affect them far more than it will affect wealthy retirees.

I6 seems perfectly sensible to me.

They may be able to do these things. Yet in employment it’s illegal for them to do any of the following:

• In a cinema, theatre, discotheque, dance hall or night club.
• To sell or deliver alcohol, except in sealed containers.
• To deliver milk.
• To deliver fuel oils.
• In a commercial kitchen (includes the kitchen of any hotel, cook shop, fried fish shop, eating house or refreshment room).
• To collect or sort refuse.
• In any work that is more than three metres above ground level (outside) or floor level (inside).
• In employment having harmful exposure to physical, biological or chemical agent.
• To collect money or to sell or canvass door to door.
• In work involving exposure to adult material or in situation which are for this reason otherwise unsuitable for children.
• In telephone sales and canvassing.
• In any slaughterhouse or in that part of any butcher's shop or other premises connected with:
• The killing of livestock;
• butchery;
• or in the preparation of carcasses/meat for sale.
• As an attendant/assistant in a fairground/amusement arcade or other premises used for public amusement by means of:
• Automatic machines;
• games of chance;
• or skill or similar devices.
• In the personal care of residents of any residential care home or nursing home.

We have to make our mind up if 16year olds are adults or children.

Perhaps they have all raised kids who are incapable of making rational decisions.

We’ve been voting at 16 for almost 20 years here in Guernsey, glad to see the mainland catching up! It’s always great seeing young people involved in hustings and asking important questions about young people’s concerns; education and house prices always seem to be the big issues.

When I was in school we did mock elections to practice voting at 16 and were taught and expected to take it seriously and vote as we would in a real election. Of course there are plenty of teens who didn’t bother to vote, but those who do always seem to treat the process with the respect it deserves. What I’d love to see is similar lessons to those we had; a guide to voting, what it means, and the importance of elections as a regular part of the PSCHE curriculum.

Perhaps they have all raised kids who are incapable of making rational decisions.

In true MNs fashion, I blame the parents!

Agree, and many of them will be unfamiliar with using a pencil since they won’t have touched one since the age of 6.

“ think of it like pushing a virtual button to create a pixel on a screen, but this is a real object that you can hold in your hand and use to make a mark on the paper, like a pixel but it can’t move . Yes, you make an X , but it’s nothing to do with Elon. (At least I hope it’s not) No you don’t get a new pencil, you use the same one that hundreds of other people have used. No it’s not ugh, no one has ever caught a disease from a ballot box pencil. Then you post your ballot paper into a box, just like you do when you post a letter . A letter? Well it’s when you sent a text or an email except you write it on paper, put it in an envelope, write the persons address on, no their house address, not their email address, put a stamp on and put it into one of those red boxes outside the post office. Yes, a text is quicker, a lot quicker……, no, you are quite right, it wouldn’t work for Love Island, but then you are not choosing a love island contestant to be your MP for the next five years. Well you choose the one who you think has the best ideas, not the best teeth or figure, no they don’t wear shorts or bikinis, they usually wear suits……..”

You got 4 years to educate your children about tiktok and other SM influences

It was in Labour's manifesto so not exactly a surprise.

Brings England into line with Scotland and Wales. They can work, they pay taxes. They can join the military at 16. Of course they are entitled to vote.

Given how mamy in the younger generation seem to be swinging to the right, this just seems like another brainless decision that will come to shoot labour in the foot. Again.

I'm not, at all.

For a userbase who repeatedly claim to be "left leaning", it's one of the most regressive, reactionary, socially conservative spaces you'll find on the internet outside of extremist sites.

This topic has really brought out a lot of ageism against the elderly.

zmonstera · Today 11:58

"16 year olds can:
Work full time,
Live independently without parental consent,
Raise children,
Get married/ enter into a civil partnership,
Open bank accounts,
Claim benefits,
Consent to medical/ dental/ surgical treatment..."

16 and 17 year olds cannot get married, either with or without parental consent.

The legal age of marriage in England and Wales was raised to 18 in 2023.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/legal-age-of-marriage-in-england-and-wales-rises-to-18

"The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022, which gained Royal Assent in April last year, has come into force today (27 February). It means that 16 and 17 year olds will no longer be allowed to marry or enter a civil partnership, even if they have parental consent..."