Votes for 16 and 17 yr-olds

[Workingman]

That is the debate to be had in parliament when the Referendum Bill goes through.

The argument goes that it will affect their futures so they should have a say. Well it will also affect the futures of 16 - 17 month-olds, should they also get a vote?

The problem with this Referendum is that most people, on both sides, do not have a clue about the EU. They both rely on myths, legends, hearsay and group-think. Teenagers are even less clued up.

[medsec222]

I would say votes from aged 18. If children are classed as adults at the age of 18, then that should apply across the board. And I include the CSA in this. Some fathers are paying when their 'children' are as old as 21(sorry to veer of the subject slightly).

[cromwell]

A big NO from me. if anything the voting age should be raised.

[Kaz]

18 is young enough.

[TheOstrich]

Yes, 18 is the appropriate age in my book too.

Anyway, I anticipate today's 16 and 17 yo's will get their chance to vote on Europe in the near future as I'm darn sure that, whatever the result of the referendum, the issue won't be settled "for a generation" and we'll be voting on it at regular intervals for years to come .......

[Suff]

This has come about because of the Scottish referendum and the decision to give them the vote.

In fact, in Scotland, a 16 year old is a legal adult. Able to take a job, leave education, marry, keep a home and have children all without the permission of parents. Granted it's unlikely in todays society but that's the situation.

So, now, given that the Scots have given the vote on one referendum, it's kind of hard to stick the genie back in the bottle for another one.

However I think Cameron might be surprised if he thinks that he could rely on the 16-17 year old vote to stay in. These youngsters are some of the most socially connected. Whilst the Scots teenagers didn't see any need to split with their English speaking cousins, that is not a given for the EU. They might get a nasty surprise there.

So I'm all for it...

[Workingman]

They might get a nasty surprise there.

I am not so sure about that.

The opportunist "In" parties; Labour, LibDems and SNP are all for it. I am assuming that no matter how inept they might be they would have some research to support their stance. Then again, we are talking Labour, LibDems and SNP, so who knows?

[Suff]

More like Treesearch. Unable to see the trees for the forest....

If it's anything like the drivel being handed out by Labour and Lib Dems in Scotland during the independence referendum they'll just sound like total idiots.

Social media is exactly the forum for exploding total BS like "well you can see how Portugal gets on negotiating on it's own". As if we were the size and economy comparable to Portugal. In the Scottish referendum they were likening Scotland to Lithuania even though it was clear that the Scottish economy was about 10 times the size and the population double or so.

We shall see. But I expect Social media to play a very large part. It did in Scotland in the last election...

[Aggers]

If the government alters the age for voting, it will only be because they think it will get them more votes.

I can remember the time when young people were not officially adults until they reached the age of 21
("Key of the Door" time - remember? I don't know why it was changed to 18. Politicians always have to
keep altering something - the useless lot.

[Suff]

I wanted to check up on what Scotland had done over the historical timeline and found the information here.

The most interesting thing I found in there was this

Under the previous Scots law (derived from Roman law), a child to the age of 12 if female, or 14 if male, had legal status of "pupil" and was under legal control of an adult (usually parent or parents) deemed "tutor". From that age until the age of majority the child had legal status of a "minor".

<snip>

The age to enter into marriage was originally the age of minority, but this was raised to 16 years by the Age of Marriage Act 1929

So until 1929, in Scotland, it was legal to get married at 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy....

Of course women didn't have the vote then and if we go back only a short way, neither did people who didn't own land....