Voting Age

Debate between Philip Davies and Julie Hilling

Thursday 24th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Julie Hilling]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I believe absolutely that if we start to encourage voting at an early age, where that is supported and people are educated about their rights and responsibilities, we can make voting a lifelong activity, and concentrating on 18 to 24-year-olds misses that huge opportunity. I will say a little more about that later.

Let me talk about some of the things that the young people at the APPG said. Yes, they are young people who are engaged. However, an important point about youth organisations and youth workers is that we actively go out to engage not only with those aspiring young people, but with young people from all walks of life to enable them to have their say in civil society. Carly stated that many young people are dissatisfied with local issues but struggle to know how to become properly involved in politics. She argued that there was a need for better education and noted that not all adults made arguments based on solid reasoning. Another young person stated that political apathy from some young people is not a valid reason to exclude those young people who are engaged, and noted that not all adults vote. Steve said that a lot of older people lacked an interest in political engagement and awareness but the same ideas about requiring a level of knowledge for 16 and 17-year-olds was not placed on people over 18. A number of young people argued that politicians are able to ignore their views because they do not have the vote, and compared the loss of education maintenance allowance and the increase in tuition with the protection of benefits given to the grey vote.

Some voices were raised against enfranchising 16 and 17-year-olds. One young person felt that they should not be enfranchised because they do not have experience of life outside the home, but she was challenged by someone who argued that many people now do not move out of their home until they are in their thirties, so that is not a valid reason to stop them having the vote.

The main thrust of the arguments against changing the voting age was lack of knowledge, and very strong opinions were voiced, both by those in support of votes at 16 and by those against, for the need for effective citizenship education in schools. They also argued that it should be part of the Ofsted inspection framework to ensure that such education was being carried out in all schools in a good way.

I am sure that we have all knocked on the doors of people who do not vote because they do not know how to do so or who to vote for. I believe that we have a duty in a civilized society to educate people about their civil duties, including voting. If done effectively, that should increase turnout by all future voters.

Many schools already undertake a lot of activities, such as mock elections, at the time of general elections, but, sadly, that rarely happens each year, meaning that four cohorts can miss out altogether.

That encouragement to vote—enabling young people to understand the political process and to vote at 16—should be viewed as positive. Voting at 16 would instil a pattern for lifelong voting. However, whether or not we believe that the voting age should be lowered, we clearly should be doing more to educate young people and, indeed, older people about how and why to vote.

We can all bandy polls about and I want to quote an online poll from The Guardian, which found that 53% of people were in favour of lowering the voting age. Of course, if a more right-wing paper conducted a similar poll, it may well come up with a different answer, but one accusation that cannot be levelled against readers of The Guardian is that they are not deep thinkers who will not have considered the pros and cons of lowering the voting age.

[Philip Davies]

I would not be so sure about that.

[Julie Hilling]

I am sure about it. The Votes at 16 coalition says that

“16 and 17 year olds are knowledgeable and passionate about the world in which they live, and are as capable of engaging in the democratic system as any other citizen.”

These are people who are already seen as capable of voting for the leader of their respective political parties.

The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly has urged the Committee of Ministers

“to reconsider the age-related restrictions placed on voting rights in order to encourage young people’s participation in political life.”

I share those views about the passion, knowledge and ability of young people.

Of course, our three Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—have already given votes to 16-year-olds. Scotland will allow 16-year-olds to vote in the referendum, and the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies have both voted in favour of votes at 16.

Some have argued that young people will not be able to make an independent decision and will vote the same way as their parents. Let us be realistic: it does not matter whether someone is 16 or 61, many people still vote the same way as their parents. I must confess that the first time I voted, I voted the same way as my mother, but I also have to say that I have never, ever voted the same way again. Our challenge is to educate and inform, so that people of whatever age can decide for themselves who to vote for and why.

Use of the Chamber (United Kingdom Youth Parliament)

Debate between Philip Davies and Julie Hilling

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Philip Davies]

That may well be the case, but is the hon. Lady really suggesting that any organisation that happens to have a more diverse make-up than the House should therefore be entitled to have a debate here? That is the logic of her position. The make-up of the Youth Parliament may well be more diverse, but that is no argument for allowing it to have a debate in this Chamber.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman not realise that the UK Youth Parliament is elected on a system based on constituencies? Each local authority area has a certain number of places at the Youth Parliament. The young people fight elections against other young people, so they have some legitimacy as members of that Parliament. What would be better than for the UK Youth Parliament to come to the mother of Parliaments and sit here to debate for one day? I cannot understand why some Government Members are resistant to that.

[Philip Davies]

The hon. Lady raises a perfectly valid point, and I do not wish to decry it. If her argument is that we should allow all organisations with democratic legitimacy to debate in the House, it is perfectly reasonable—I am sure that all my local parish councils will look forward to their day in the sunshine, when they have their debate. I suspect that many people in my parishes feel that national significance is not given to all the issues that they debate. Perhaps members of my local authority in Bradford will look forward to their day in the spotlight when they can have a debate here. If the hon. Lady’s argument is that all organisations with some democratic accountability should have a debate here, it is perfectly valid, but she still has not given any reason why that should apply only to the UK Youth Parliament.