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Votes at sixteen...are they any different?

06.07.06
at 23:06

tagged with:

constitutional reform

The last debate on tonight's Question Time was over votes at sixteen. Most of the panel, gratifyingly, supported this Lib Dem policy. I know Sam Coates, erstwhile near neighbour of mine here at Brookes and deputy-editor of ConservativeHome, doesn't like the idea and his arguments on his own blog did give me pause for thought for a few seconds.

But the overwhelming feeling I was left with from that audience of under-21s tonight was that they are no different at sixteen than at any other age as regards ability to take on board an argument and make decisions based on information they receive.

Standing on doorsteps canvassing it is quite clear that as high a proportion of over eighteens seem not to care a fig, or are as open to the influence of lies, spin, tribalism and statistics, not to mention on occasion family or peer pressures. At least the sixteen year olds now have a future to plan for - why shouldn't they have a say?

Oh, and none of this "compulsory political lessons" please either - engaging folks is the job of the would be politicians. Just as many adults need compulsory political lessons as any other group I'd suggest. Which may be an old fashioned liberal position, but not one that should discriminate between the young and politically disengaged and the not so young and politically disengaged.

Technorati Tags: electoral reform, politics, voting, young

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On 07.07.06 at 14:38 Gavin Whenman (not verified) said:

Ah, I see (I didn't catch QT)
I wouldn't normally use the phrase compulsory political lessons" - I'd prefer them to be "civics lessons" - which would encompass an introduction to the system of government, both locally and nationally."

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On 07.07.06 at 10:21 Gavin Whenman (not verified) said:

I agreed with you all the way up until you said Oh, and none of this "compulsory political lessons" please either".
When I was at school (and this was only three years ago) we learnt diddly-squat about the political system - everything I know comes from my own reading. At the very least we need to educate young people about the basics of our political system, so as to empower them to make a difference to it. Shutting them out of learning about it at a young age only fosters adulthood disengagement."

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On 07.07.06 at 11:08 Jock Coats (not verified) said:

Well - yes and no. I agree that people need some kind of introduction to civil society and how it works. I'm not sure I would call it compulsory politics lessons" which I think is the phrase Matt Pollard, the "guest" panel member, used."

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On 07.07.06 at 15:21 Jock Coats (not verified) said:

When I was at school (and this was substantially more than three years ago) Politics" O level (and "Economics", and "Business Studies") was generally regarded as a subject for the less able pupils too.

But we did have an hour a week in general themed discussion groups in the sixth form on what I suppose what today might be called "PHSE & Citizenship".

I wouldn't mind this sort of thing starting in year 1 though and simply being a "part of life", because without understanding why and to whom we surrender a part of our lives to be "governed" we cannot begin to understand what we might want to fight for back to reach our potential.

Precocious me, I wrote to a nice lady called Shirley, who was something to do with education when I was 11 demanding that her government do something about these private children's prisons that were abusing our human rights by preventing us having access to the tuck shop as a punishment...:)"