Votes at 16
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June 2008
On 6th June 2008, Julie Morgan Labour MP for Cardiff North introduced a Ballot Bill urging the Government to lower the voting age to 16.
Private Members Bills rarely become law but give backbenchers in both Houses of Parliament the opportunity to raise issues they feel strongly about.
She argued that:
- Lowering the voting age would recognise the contribution that 16-18 year olds can make. At present the political system is currently skewed too far in favour of those who are older, for simple reasons—there are more of them, they have more power and they tend to vote more.
- It would allow for a seamless transition from learning about voting (through compulsory citizenship education), elections and democracy to putting such knowledge into practice. The exclusion of 16 and 17-year-olds is fuelling the disengagement of 18 to 24-year-olds. The longer young people are denied involvement in the formal democratic process, the less chance there is of engaging them ever. For those individuals who turn 18 just after a general election, they may then have to wait until 23 to participate for the first time in a General Election.
- "No taxation without representation". Some 548,000 16 and 17-year-olds are in some form or employment and must pay income tax and national insurance because there is no age limit on this. However, they are denied the right to determine how their tax should be spent.
- 16 years olds can join the armed forces and get married with the consent of their parents. If they are capable of making important decisions on these matters then it is evident they have the reasoning to vote.
- Funky Dragon, The Children and Young People’s Assembly for Wales ran a wide-ranging survey that found that 80 per cent. of young people in Wales wanted votes at 16. Subsequently, the Welsh Assembly passed a motion calling for the voting age to be lowered to 16, with 44 Assembly Members voting for the motion and only four against, and complete cross-party support.
- Where the voting age has been lowered, with a sustained public awareness campaign with young people, turnout at elections has been boosted. In Germany, there has been higher turnout among the 16-to-18 age group than among the 18-to-24 age group. There are similar examples in the UK. More than 20,000 young people voted in Essex to elect six members of the Youth Parliament from 92 candidates.
In support off the Bill Andrew Love, Labour MP for Edmonton countered opposition claims that because the majority of 16 year olds are not vehemently demanding the right to vote, it indicated that they felt they should not be entitled to it and reflected apathy to this specific issue. Mr Love stated that if turnout were used as the acid test for voting, 18 to 25-year-olds would not get the vote and ethnic minorities and people in poorer communities might not get the vote. The task of Parliamentarians is to lead and make judgements for the good of democracy.
Lynne Featherstone Liberal Democrat MP and Youth and Equality Spokesperson, added that “teenage knife crime, under-age drinking, teenage pregnancy, bullying, drug misuse, antisocial behaviour, and gang culture involving guns and knives are just a few of the issues where failing public policy desperately needs the input of younger people. There is a chronic disconnection between Westminster and young people, and in some ways we need them and their input, in a democratic way, more than they need us”.
Opposition to the Bill
Mark Harper Conservative Shadow Minister for Work & Pensions argued that once we separate the voting age from the age at which someone becomes a legal adult, there is no logical place to stop the process, and the right to vote could then be demanded by 14 year olds. Furthermore, he refuted claims that MPs ignore the interests of 16 years olds because they cannot vote. He stressed that unlike the parallel case of the right of women to vote, those who are 16 will become franchised in time.
Eleanor Laing Conservative Shadow Minister for Justice stated that with rights there must be responsibility otherwise it becomes meaningless. “By giving people the right to vote, we are also conferring on them the burden of the responsibility to vote. I argue that 16 and 17-year-olds are gradually given plenty of responsibilities as they move on through life and grow up. It is not right to pile on all those responsibilities at once. Children of younger age groups have to be protected and 16 and 17-year-olds still have to be nurtured and helped along the way while they gradually make the transition from childhood to adulthood”.
December 2005
On 29 November, Stephen Williams MP (Liberal Democrat, Bristol West) moved
"That leave be given to bring in a Bill to reduce the voting age for parliamentary, local government and European parliamentary elections to sixteen." [1]
He argued that
"We give young people many rights and responsibilities but, as politicians, we do not always give them the respect of listening to their opinions. I believe that young people are informed, engaged and ready to vote."
The motion was defeated by 136 votes to 128.
An amendment to the Electoral Reform Bill to reduce the voting age to sixteen was debated during the Bill's Committee stage on 22 November. The amendment was not voted on.
On 24 November Diana Johnson MP (Labour, Hull North) asked the Leader of the House the Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP (Labour, Ashfield) whether
"As a constitutional moderniser, does my Right Hon. friend agree that, given that we have citizenship classes up to the age of sixteen in all our schools, it is a great pity that young people will have to wait until they are eighteen to exercise the right to vote?"
He replied that reducing the voting age to sixteen is an issue that the Government continues to consider.
"Making such a major change is not something that can be done lightly. It requires a great deal of thought and consideration. I assure my hon. Friend that this is a matter that the Government are keeping under close review." [2]
Diana Johnson MP(Labour, Hull North) has also tabled an Early-Day Motion calling for votes at sixteen. EDM 801 states,
That this House believes that the time is right to lower the voting age to 16; recognises that at 16 and 17 young people's lives are as rich and varied as at any other age, that they have considerable responsibilities that routinely involve making complex decisions and that are unrecognised in their current democratic rights, that many youth-led organisations have been campaigning for the voting age to be reduced, and that lowering the voting age could play a huge role in helping young people feel more connected with political processes which would strengthen local and national democracy and is the next logical extension for citizenship education; and calls on the Government to use the Electoral Administration Bill to legislate to lower the voting age to 16 for all public elections in the UK.
