Why would anyone think 16 year-olds should be allowed to vote?

[MsAmerica]

Be honest - think back to when you were 16. Did you have an understanding of a broad range of issues? Did you pay serious attention to national news? Okay, even many adults may lapse on the score, but still, it seems crazy to me.

In the U.S., voting age had been 21 and the only reason it was lowered to 18 was that teens were being drafted to fight in Vietnam, and it was felt as unfair for them to have no say.

Lowering the voting age will help to increase political engagement in teens. Tbh i reckon teens are at least as politically informed as many pensioners. And they've got far more at stake in the world. Currently policy is far too skewed towards the "grey vote". I think this is a really positive move.

Nope. Reform views are more widely held among young males.

I was politically active at 14, at 15 I was spending weekends at Greenham, joined the T&GWU and was involved in campaigns

My eldest, of her own back, wrote to Cameron at 11 to protest bedroom tax!

my youngest is 16 and, while not as political as her older sisters is not stupid. She just come out of state education, I think her experiences are valid

Oh and 16 year old can drive - if they get the mobility portion of disability benefits

You can in Scotland.

Personally yes, it was the 80s and I was a member of young labour or whatever it was called at the time. However I was a complete outlier, not only in terms of being so engaged but also being a labour supporter.

I dont think 16 year olds today are as mature.

There’s plenty, plenty of adults with no understanding of any range of issues and they’re still allowed to vote, so…

They did mock elections in my sons school they all voted reform for a laugh when they did a mock election at dds school (not in an election year so they made the parties up) they all voted for communism

Not sure about the idea of them voting for real if I'm honest my son might be ok he takes things seriously but his friends do not

The only realistic way to get more people voting is to make it compulsory with a none of the above box to tick

I think my 17yo has a better understanding of UK politics than a lot adults I know. I think some will have an interest and understanding, others won’t. I’m a secondary school teacher and I’m pretty relaxed about 16yo voting, they are fairly mature by then.

I dont think 16 year olds today are as mature.

Back in the 80s, a large proportion of 16yos were, or expected to be soon, in full time work.

I discussed politics and current affairs with my DC from quite an early age We had a subscription for the economist and we always watched and talked about the news. At 16 they would have been better informed than many adults. They certainly wouldn't have voted for Brexit, although sadly they are the generation who are really losing out.

This ^

I would think the proportion of 16/17 year olds who understand politics and have a balanced and informed option is not dissimilar to the proportion of over 18s who understand politics and have a balanced and informed opinion.

Well the conversation I overheard from a group of year 8 students was ‘I’d never vote for these idiots’. Then mainly a mixture of Corbyn vs Farage. It was civil too. They appeared to remain friends when the subject changed. So maybe it’s a good idea.

I do however think in light of this they need to reassess crime sentencing - if you can vote, drive a car and join the army -surely you should receive an adult prison sentence and have your mugshot put in the news.

Keir Starmer mentioned 16 year olds can pay tax so should be able to vote. That was very odd. Babies must pay tax if they earn enough (baby modelling or a legacy). Adults that don’t pay tax still vote. Why is he linking paying tax to being eligible to vote?

I’d be very interested to see what percentage of 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 year olds pay tax. (Broken down by age).

(Edited to change they to adults as it wasn’t very clear)

Plenty of 18 year olds don’t have informed opinions on politics either. The same can be said for 28 year olds, 58 year olds and 98 year olds. If we only let appropriately informed people vote there would be very few people left to express an opinion and you couldn’t very well call it a democracy. It will make no odds - there will be highly engaged 16 year olds just the same as there are highly unengaged 36 year olds.

Same! And tbf if you look at the shower of numpties who have been voted in by grown-ups then o think the kids deserve a chance 🤣

But you could say the same for many adults.

Myself and my dc as teenagers were very interested in what was going on in the world. I would have trusted them more than I trust daily mail readers.

I actually think that many of the existing voters of 18 and over are not the least politically aware or economically literate and are taken in by party hype. In fact many are frankly stupid. It horrifies me sometimes to listen to vox pops on the street around election time and hear what people are saying and the total ignorance from which much of it springs.

I do not think younger voters will be markedly different.

My son and his friends are 14 and know more about politics and a lot of current issues /affairs than a lot of adults I know, dare I even say more than myself. And they have passion and an innate desire to do the right thing

Good.

Not true. I've attended secondary school hustings and the young people are far more aware, political, and engaged than wider discourse would suggest.

I also think prisoners should get the vote and long-term resident foreign nationals, but that is a whole other discussion.

@MsAmerica Labour know young people are left leaning. They don’t pay tax so it’s not their money they are being profligate with. They will end up with huge government borrowings and a crashed economy if they don’t understand basic economics though. They possibly won’t vote of course. It’s really just an extension of the House of Commons. School level politics with poor MPs not seeing the wider picture. No - they should not get the vote. They have too little experience.

@DublinLaLaLa you can get married at 16 in Scotland

Good point. On average first votes would probably be around 20yo. Lower the age to 16, average would be 18.

No way. It should be raised to 21!