16 year olds to be given the right to vote…….yes or no?

We've had the younger age group voting in Scotland since the 2015 independence referendum for all Scottish elections and no-one has been at all bothered by it. Infact reading all these terrified sounding posts, I doubt many even know!

16 to 18 yr olds are 8% of the electorate so hardly going to change the general trend.

I’m not too worried. In Wales, over 50% of eligible 16-17 didn’t bother to register to vote in the last election.
In Scotland the gap between young voter turnout and older voter turnout is increasing, to the extent that compulsory turnout for first time voters was considered desirable when they changed the rules in voting age.
IMO not understanding that voting age should be accompanied by other changes, e.g. those mentioned by love0c above

buy alcohol, pass the driving test, get married, sit on a jury, be named in court of any offence, be sent to an adult jail and in no way be made to stay in education until they are 18
is an admission or at least an implication that 16 year olds aren’t mature enough or sensible enough to be trusted with those things.

love0c

PoliticsNerd 16 year olds are not adults. I believe they still need some protection.

That is exactly what some men said about women getting the vote. "Protection", in the hands of those wanting to maintain their sense of entitlement, is very much a double edge sword.

Just for clarification in Scotland you can get married at 16 without parental permission. This has been the case since 1929, prior to that it was even younger.
This is why many English and Welsh couples eloped to Gretna Green.

love0c

OldFrill 'Irrelevant scenarios'? Maybe if you knew of the very young deaths due to driving had occurred in your area? stabbings due to drinking? I will not be duped into thinking a 16 year old is an adult.

These further irrelevant scenarios are not age restricted and won't increase/decrease because 16 year olds can vote.

love0c

I think it will set a dangerous precedent. If this goes ahead, they will have to allow 16 year olds to buy alcohol, pass the driving test, get married, sit on a jury, be named in court of any offence, be sent to an adult jail and in no way be made to stay in education until they are 18. Yes, setting a very dangerous president to themselves and the public in so many ways.

Reducing the voting age does not automatically loosen those other regulations. Instead, it recognises that young people can contribute to the democratic processes in a meaningful way. With appropriate education and safeguards, their participation can be beneficial without undermining other societal standards but, of course that education and those safeguards should be available to all.

OldFrill 'Irrelevant scenarios'? Maybe if you knew of the very young deaths due to driving had occurred in your area? stabbings due to drinking? I will not be duped into thinking a 16 year old is an adult.

love0c

I think it will set a dangerous precedent. If this goes ahead, they will have to allow 16 year olds to buy alcohol, pass the driving test, get married, sit on a jury, be named in court of any offence, be sent to an adult jail and in no way be made to stay in education until they are 18. Yes, setting a very dangerous president to themselves and the public in so many ways.

None of that has happened in the last 9 years in Scotland, not is it likely. I don't understand linking reducing the voting age to a myriad of other irrelevant scenarios.

PoliticsNerd 16 year olds are not adults. I believe they still need some protection.

love0c

Yet another ludicrous idea from Labour!

And isn't it great that you too are allowed to express your ideas, however "ludicrous" they too may seem to others.

A round of applause for the increasing democracy that once gave women the vote and the chance to balance their rights in Parliament!

I think it will set a dangerous precedent. If this goes ahead, they will have to allow 16 year olds to buy alcohol, pass the driving test, get married, sit on a jury, be named in court of any offence, be sent to an adult jail and in no way be made to stay in education until they are 18. Yes, setting a very dangerous president to themselves and the public in so many ways.

Mollygo

The snide remarks about
wondering if the posts come from people who don't have any relationship with young people
and the derogatory comments about older people, which could actually blanket condemn everyone on GN leave me wondering about the poster.

They are a reply to the blanket condemnation of the young Mollygo.

In this thread I've observed that sometimes similar suggestions or critiques seem to receive very different responses depending on whether they're about the group defined by membership of gransnet, i.e., older people, or of those who would get the vote under this new law, i.e., younger people.

I feel it is helpful for all of us to consider applying the same standards to all, in order to promote fairness, mutual respect and democracy.

Anyone remember when you could get married at 16?! Seems strange now.

Labour bringing this in purely in their own interests.

Yet another ludicrous idea from Labour!

Freya, the Welsh branch of my family feel that, in general, the government of Wales represents the best interests of their electorate.
I'm not sure that matters relating to Nigerian farmers has much effect on the economy of this region.

18 still seems about right to me.

You’re considered an ‘adult’ then, so a vote at that age is appropriate.

You change throughout life, not just 16-21. Do you have exactly the same opinions and beliefs throughout life? No - your priorities change as you grow older. Maybe promising to legalise cannabis and cut tuition fees would be popular with the younger voter, and the triple lock and pensions with the older, childcare and education maybe more important to parents. This idea that only those of a certain age understand politics is ridiculous. Many of the 16 year olds I know are certainly more astute and aware than many of the over 70s I know who seem stuck in a time warp.

Ridiculous idea. How much we change between 16 and 21, I still think age of consent should be 21.

Very strange.
You cant drink alcohol or get married until you are 18 but you will be able to vote from 16.
Another mistake from this government and a boost for Reform.

Freya5

No definitely not. No representation without paying taxes. These are children still at school, still maturing, still being brainwashed by the left wing of education. Labour saying they are following Wales, who are more concerned with providing Nigerian farmers with money to plant trees , than helping their own farmers, and Scotland, both Labour run, the reason being most baby idealist will vote for them. Another ponzi scheme by a ponzi Gov.

no representation without paying taxes - we all pay tax on many of our purchases, under 18s are not exempt from paying tax.
Scotland hasn't been run by Labour for nearly two decades.
Do you understand what Ponzi means.

nanna8

Presumably they will also go to adult jails if they commit serious crimes.

18-21 year olds do not go to "adult jail's" but still have the right to vote.

I wonder if those rejecting the idea of votes at 16 realise that they are making the same arguments that have been aired throughout the past couple of centuries, each time the franchise was extended.

The world did not fall on our heads then and it won’t now.

But any extension of democracy must in my book be a good thing.

Presumably they will also go to adult jails if they commit serious crimes.

The snide remarks about
wondering if the posts come from people who don't have any relationship with young people
and the derogatory comments about older people, which could actually blanket condemn everyone on GN leave me wondering about the poster.