Younger people’s views beyond March 2019.

At 16 there is hardly enough life experience to be able to judge wisely on something as important as political decisions, No matter how strong your opinions are on a particular subject, at that age the background issues and consequences that could occur are less obvious than to those that have seen them happen during the course of their longer lifetimes. Today's young people haven't lived outside the European Union as we older people have. We were trading with the world then and we will do so again. Today, the doctrine is that the world only consists of Europe. The world is getting smaller, but it's larger than Europe.

I think the voting age should stay at 18 for the moment but all young people have a financial stake in the future, including 16 year olds, because a government can last 5 years and they'll reach the current voting age halfway through.

I remember hearing an older person during the 2016 referendum campaign saying he rented a flat and lived on his own with a dog and that he didn't care whether we stayed in the EU or not as it would make no difference to him.

Decisions made by the Government impact on us all in one way or another regardless of whether we are at school, in further education, working or retired. For example, the last few years of austerity has affected everyone, unless they are very rich. Some people are looking forward to voting for a Government that will bring it to an end.

minxie who do you think doesn't understand that? Can you not understand that the vote was electoral fraud? Do you not understand that we were lied to and that most of those promises were and still are undeliverable? Now that pretty much everyone can understand that the only democratic thing to do is to allow the people to vote on facts not fiction. Anything else is abusing democracy.

It is naive to simply believe everything you were told and not then accept it was false.

Well said minxie ?

Absolutely right MOnica on all accounts.... many 16 year olds have not had life experience, and, in the case of Brexit, have never known a life outside the EU either, so how can they have a balanced view?.... I would never have seen myself as having enough knowledge to vote... on anything... at the age of 16.. most of us were in our own little bubble, and halfway between child and adult... I know there are some very "switched on" youngsters, but the majority are just normal teenagers, who worry about everyday stuff and not the ways of the world, which is just as it should be at that age.. they grow up too quickly sometimes.

When are people going to understand that one man equals one vote. We voted out and that’s an end of it. It’s called democracy not keep voting until you get the answer you want

The current school leaving age is 18, unless you have an apprenticeship or are at college, and has been for several years.
This was a political decision to keep unemployment figures down with no national initiatives as to what the students would be doing in these extra years. I am surprised that you can still be at school and married for several years, but it's possible.
As with adults, some teenagers are politically aware, and very clued-up, others aren't. It's their future.

I agree with you susantrubey. The teens are a time to strike out and make your own choices but it is a time to make wrong decisions and learn from them without there being too many consequences.

I think I only grew up when I moved away from home. Whilst living with parents it can be difficult to see the wider picture and if I had been allowed the vote at 16 I think I would have voted as my parents did. Later I voted for one party, toyed with another and then settled for several years on another. Now, with all my years of experience and being a news junkie, I have no idea which party to support. A plague on all their houses.

Good post MOnica of course we had our families in mind when we voted. Do they think older people are completely selfish. I agree with standardizing the age for everything and think it should be 18. There are great variations in the level of maturity of course.

Ironic that we have one poster complaining about young people being infantilised and another one supporting infantilisation.

The argument that ‘they have no financial stake in what they are voting for’ was one of the reasons given for not giving the vote to men without property, and women, and the first Act that enfranchised some women in 1918 still included a property qualification, which wasn’t removed till 1928.

Young people have to be in education or training until 18. They cannot leave school and get a job at 16 unless they become apprentices.

Do we really want our teenagers worrying about what life will be like in fifty years time? I want my sixteen year old grandson to be excited about going to college. I want him to have fun, to laugh and sing. They have enough problems worrying about who will fancy them, what clothes to wear and passing exams. Let them have that time. We are the ones who should be worrying about what life will be for them in fifty years time. We should not try to pass the buck onto our grandchildren. WE must sort it out for them.

Good post MOnica.

I was interested in politics and current affairs from the age of 4, I was reading the political column in the Children's Newspaper at 6. but I do not think I was old enough and experienced enough to vote at 16. I did not think it then, I do not think it now.

When I hear young people talk about older people having no investment in the future because they will not be here. It just proves to me how naive they are. Most of us have children and grandchildren and we desperately want them to have every opportunity to make good lives for themselves in a thriving country. We may not be here in 20, 30, 40 years time, but they will be and that means everything to us.

we do claim to have the most politically aware youngsters in Europe so maybe ours are different from those south of the border

young people are far more switched on to todays and tomorrows issues than most were in the 60's when I was at school.I was a rarity that was involved in politics before I was at high school ,now its normal for young people of that age and much younger to know whats happening around them AND for them to want action on it.Witness the small "strike" gathering today about glbal warming and the many local groups who because they were on half term decided to do clear ups on local beaches.I'm talking about young people from age 8 upwards .

You can start work at 16.

What you describe as 'infantilism' Beau idoesn't mean that young people don't have ideas about how they would like the country to be run.

I think you might be suffering from the 'young people today aren't what they were in my day' syndrome.

I disagree completely paddyann - my friends and I have often discussed the 'infantilisation' of young teenagers. While on some level they seem 'mature', we were travelling up to London to work at their age whilst their parents just about let them get on the local bus. People I have worked with who were sent on courses have had to take their mum because they had never been on a train alone etc.

You've always been able to marry without consent at 16 in Scotland .The vote should be for 16 year olds .In my job I've known a lot of 16 year olds who were married ,a few who got married the day after they left school.Most are still together some for well over 30 years .I knwo I was perfectly capable of making a decision about who to vote for at 16 and all the young people I know are politically aware

Yes, that was the opening point of the argument on the radio, Maizie - at that time a 21 year old was likely to be married, often have children, be in employment - now they (18 year olds) are all still at school or college so have no financial stake in what they are voting for - it was interesting hearing the statistics.

I'm in two minds about giving the vote at 16. It does seem so very young. But as far as the referendum was concerned I think it would have been right as it is, as MOnica says, very relevant to their futures and they may not get another chance for years. But keep it at 18 for everything else, if only because voting opportunities in general and local elections come every few years.

When the voting age was 21, in our youth, wasn't the school leaving age 14? At which age children could be in a job and earning.

I thought that nowadays you had to be in education or an apprenticeship until you were 18? Maybe got that wrong, my gc are not that old yet. If that is the case I think the age should remain 18 and I don't think it would be fair to change it for a vote on whether to leave the EU or not even though I think it is wrong to leave the EU. I do think that Brits living and working in the EU should have a vote though.