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Miliband: I'll Lower Voting Age to 16 In 2016
The Labour leader tells 16 and 17-year-olds they would get the vote within a year of Labour coming to power in May's election.
The voting age would be lowered to 16 as soon as 2016 under Labour proposals, Ed Miliband has said.
The Opposition leader has pledged to give 1.5 million 16 and 17-year-olds the right to participate in UK elections if his party wins the General Election in May.
http://news.sky.com/story/1388254/miliband-ill-lower-voting-age-in-2016
Good.
The longer young people are denied involvement in the formal democratic process, the less chance there is of engaging them ever.
The voting age would be lowered to 16 as soon as 2016 under Labour proposals, Ed Miliband has said.
The Opposition leader has pledged to give 1.5 million 16 and 17-year-olds the right to participate in UK elections if his party wins the General Election in May.
http://news.sky.com/story/1388254/miliband-ill-lower-voting-age-in-2016
Good.
The longer young people are denied involvement in the formal democratic process, the less chance there is of engaging them ever.
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They should not get the vote even if they know who the Prime Minister is and promise to tidy their room.
Also voting SHOULDN'T be made easier for the over 18s - by texting and such - if you can't be arsed popping down to the polling station you shouldn't be able to vote.
And thirdly, voting should not be compulsory at any age. If you are not interested or know nothing about politics at all, it's best to leave it to the rest.
Seriously though, what does a 16 year old, know about the real world? Many of whom have never done a day's work. Labour know they'll vote for them, because most have never had to stand on their own or received a pay slip with "tax paid"
They're naive at that age and not fully developed. They just spout whatever left wing hogwash they've been brainwashed with at school. That much was clear on the UKIP Leaders Live debate and the lack of original thought or questioning the status quo from
ANYONE there. They were pretty much clones of one another. Scary really.
Will watch the Labour one tonight.
Hell lets give them the vote at birth !
didnt work
Labour is so transparent and pathetic
the jocks stole any chance of a win for you
get over it
When the age of majority was twenty one, young people got a free university education because they were minors and could not sign legally binding contracts.
Then the age of majority was lowered to eighteen and that meant that an eighteen year old could sign legally binding contracts and be charged for and held responsible for their own university fees. In came university fees and loans and out went free university education.
If the age of majority becomes sixteen then what charges might be heaped on school children? Fees for the sixth form?
"Yo kids, it's me, David, I'm hip like you."
absolute nonsense! 16 year are plenty old enough to be able to vote. I know i and my friends were heavily into politics at that age. We were all conservative voters too. I would suggest that as per usual a lefty biased audience were chosen to go up against UKIP and in no way representative of the general population.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24229366
Agreed. I have met 16 year olds with better cognitive reasoning skills than most adults.
The fact is, young people are disengaged with the political process because they don't feel like middle aged candidates represent them fully. Lowering the voting age is one tool that can be used to get them more engaged.
....And yet, if the Tries had pledged this, you'd be ranting away against it.
As was the case in Scotland, this is just a very cynical piece of political opportunism, Miliband wouldn't be doing it if the numbers had shown him that more 16-18 year olds would be voting Tory rather than Labour.
I see no evidence that 16 year olds are any more likely to vote Labour than any other party so you are talking out of your arse.
I think this is a reasonable time to allow people to vote - when they become adults.
I disagree.
Some 16 year olds, for sure - but in my view the majority wouldn't have a clue about politics and worse still, are highly impressionable. Decision making across many areas - fashion, music etc. - when you're young is very much guided and influenced by peer group pressure and other social interaction. You wear the badge - literally. Politics wouldn't be any different. Only when you're older, with full responsibility for your life, does your outlook change as the peer groups fall away, the reality of life kicks in and it all starts to be become more private and personal.
If people of 16 years of age are deemed responsible enough to make these decisions then all age restricted activities should be lowered accordingly ( driving, tobacco and alcohol consumption, marriage etc etc.. ).
No taxation without representation.
I actually agree with lowering the age of all of that.
16 year olds can already choose to leave school, join the military, pay tax, have sex (not in NI because we are backwards) so why shouldn't they be allowed to do those other things?
a 1 year old can pay tax on income from investments....
Besides, it raises the question of whether we want to treat 16 year-olds as adults. Should we allow 16 year-olds to buy alcohol/tobacco? If a 16yo is convicted of a crime should they be sent to an adult prison rather than a Young Offenders institution?
1. Why not? They manage to do it anyway.
2. If the crime is serious enough, why not? If they don't understand the risks of committing the crime at 16, will the really be able to at 18?
Maybe that's what the Conservatives have got planned – and not just for the sixth form? They're bound to get round to it eventually.
The parents are responsible in both instances.
You know perfectly well what my comment implies.