There are arguments both for and against lowering the voting age to 16 across the United Kingdom. In this blog I will endeavour to put both arguments for and against before declaring what my own opinion is. Let us start by describing the current situation. Already 16-year-olds can vote in Scottish parliamentary elections and in the Welsh Senedd and local elections. The current age limit for voting at general elections has been in place since the Representation of the People’s Act in 1969. This lowered the voting age from the previous age of 21 to18. It is worth noting that the age of 21 had previously been in place since the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1695. Since devolution it has been within the power of devolved institutions to decide on the voting age in elections in their coverage. But in the UK General Elections, the English local and regional elections and the Northern Irish local and regional elections it remains the case that voters must be 18.

Let us look briefly at the position internationally. The Vatican City is the only state with a maximum voting age. As we saw recently Cardinals voting for a new Pope in the College of Cardinals must be under 80. Otherwise international voting ages vary quite significantly but votes at 16 is quite unusual. Nine countries including Scotland and Wales allow votes at 16 as do the British crown dependencies of Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey but here of course I refer to local elections not the General Election. Four countries allow votes at 17 - North Korea, Indonesia, Greece and East Timor. Four countries allow votes at 20 – Bahrain, Cameroon, Nauru and Taiwan. Six countries allow votes at 21 – Lebanon, Oman, Samoa, Singapore, Tokelau and Tonga. All the rest allow voting at 18, that is if they allow voting at all and there are still many countries that don't. The average basic voting age internationally is just over 18. There are some exceptions to this, for example Slovenia and Serbia allow votes at 16 if you are employed but I can imagine there must be some difficulties in deciding what that means.

Let us look at the positions of the major political parties in the UK on votes at 16. The different major parties for some time have had differing positions on lowering the voting age to 16. Conservatives have traditionally been opposed to lowering the voting age to 16. The Labour Party have for some time been in favour of lowering the voting age to 16 and indeed it was included as a pledge in their 2019 manifesto. The Liberal Democrats have a long-held policy agreement to lower the voting age to 16 and it has been a consistent manifesto pledge since 2001. However the cynics might suggest that these views are strongly influenced by what the different parties might expect if such a change were made. The Labour Party and Liberal Democrats might well believe that if the voting age were lowered to 16 the majority of those voting at that age would support their parties whereas Conservatives might well feel that the opposite is the case. If that is the case these views are being influenced by the expectations of how people express their views than that is not a healthy position for a democracy to take.

A number of attempts have been made to lower the voting age to 16 and there have been numerous attempts to pass bills that would do this. However all have been private members bills and they have tended to be quite stormy in the debates that followed. In one famous case the motion was not even put to debate after it was filibustered by Conservative MPs. Is it possible to assess the impact of votes at 16 in Scotland and Wales where they've been introduced? in Scotland 16- and 17-year-olds got their first votes in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. It is estimated that around 75% of 16- and 17-year-olds who had registered to vote consequently did so in the referendum and this was a higher turnout than those in the 18 to 24 bracket. There is also a suggestion that since these changes were made the turn out in older age groups has gone up indicating that earlier access to voting may create positive habits. The position in Wales is less clear. The first parliamentary elections in 2021 were the first time that 16–17-year-olds could vote in Wales. Initial data suggests that only around 45% of them registered to vote but there is also a point of view that young people in Wales may view the Senate elections as less important and the 45% might be significantly higher for general elections but that is just speculation.

Some of the arguments in favour of granting 16-year-olds votes may include that the age of 16 is already an age where people are granted more autonomy. At 16 you can consent to sexual relationships, become a parent and join the military, but with parental consent. A 16-year-old may be liable for taxation if they earn over the personal allowance of £12,570 so if they are legally considered liable for taxation they should therefore be considered eligible for having a say on how their taxes are spent. Some consider that voting is a human right and therefore it is enshrined in the protocols of the European Convention of Human Rights to which Britain is a signatory but there's no specific mention in that sense. When 16-year-olds have been given the vote, they have shown that they will take that opportunity. In the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 a higher proportion of 16-year-olds turned out than 18- to 24-year-olds but there may have been some novelty value in that. Voting helps with wider political education and helps people to engage with social issues. Allowing them to vote would help to engage them in the wider political process. Allowing 16-year-olds to vote would force politicians to consider youth issues. One of the problems with not allowing 16- to 17-year-olds to vote is that politicians do not need to actively appeal to them but then that argument could be extended right through the age spectrum. There are lots of areas whereby young people may be able to offer more expertise than older voters such as education, social media and youth projects. Rather oddly, despite the fact that the Conservative party actively opposes votes at 16,15-year-old Conservative party members can vote in Conservative leadership elections and did so in the recent past. So it seems odd to say that 16-year-olds are not qualified to vote in a General Election but are qualified to choose the next Prime Minister.

Some of the arguments against giving 16-year-olds a vote may include the fact that it is clear that the age of adult food in the UK is 18. While some rights are offered before this, they are the exception to a very clear rule. It is at age 18 where young people are legally responsible for themselves and so this is where the voting age should stay. Young people simply lack the life experience which is essential in casting a considered vote. The vast majority of young people live with their parents or guardians and will be in full time education. It is therefore likely that their vote may be overly influenced by others. Indeed there is an argument that 16-year-olds may be overly influenced by social media.  Votes at 18 is by far the most common international level. There is no reason for Britain to divert from the international standard. Opinion polls tend to suggest that votes at 16 are not seen to be appropriate. In a You Gov poll of 2017 51% opposed lowering the voting age to 16 while just 26% supported it.

So where do I stand on this? Well firstly while a case could be made that 16 year olds acquire some additional rights and responsibilities in fact overall these are relatively few and don't apply to that many 16,17 year olds while the law still considers teenagers of that age too young to drive a car, drink alcohol or gamble so should they be able to help influence the direction of democracy. The question of how many would actually bother voting is a difficult one but in the 2019 general election the turnout was just 47% for 18- to 20-year-olds where by contrast around 74% of over 65 made it to the ballot box. When the young people are asked themselves the great majority,79%, in one poll feel that 18 was still the right age and there has been no uprising among teenagers demanding voting rights.

More importantly “At 16, adolescents are still in the process of cognitive development” according to Elena Tourini, consultant psychologist and co-founder of Chelsea Psychology Clinic."By that age the brain is well developed in areas related to basic reasoning, decision making and social understanding. However the prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain responsible for impulse control, risk assessment and long term planning does not mature until the early 20s. This means that while 16-year-olds may be able to form opinions, understand political issues and make decisions, their ability to evaluate long term consequences and risks might not be as well developed as that of older adults." If you talk to the average secondary school teacher, they will say most 16-year-olds haven't yet developed the life experience or emotional maturity to make informed decisions about complex political issues. Topics such as taxation and public spending and paying bills are challenging even for fully independent adults and at 16 most are still in compulsory education and have limited exposure to these realities.

Rather than take the risk of giving younger people to vote and denying these realities it seems to me that a much better alternative would be to improve political education in schools with an engaging balanced curriculum that could help them build the knowledge and confidence they still need to participate fully when they reach 18. It's worth remembering that in law we still regard 16- and 17-year-olds as children