Trusting our Youngsters

The referendum taught the Scottish electorate a lot of things, but significantly it demonstrated that the inclusion of 16 and 17 year olds in the political process enriched it greatly.

It is with this knowledge that the recent move by the House of Lords to make it more difficult for young people to vote at 16 and above is so misguided.

A new report by the House of Lords Constitution Committee has argued that they should have a role in scrutinising the decision to devolve powers over the franchise to Scotland – and expressed concern that lowering the voting age in Scotland will “lead to pressure to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in other elections across the UK.”

I fail to see why this would be a problem. The Scottish Government decision to extend the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds during the referendum was very successful with around 90 per cent of the age group registering to put their X in the box.

There is something rather hypocritical about a group of unelected peers deciding that young adults in Scotland cannot take part in the democratic process, and if the trend was spread across the UK, then surely we would all be the better for it.

I would like Westminster to transfer the powers needed for younger people to vote in next year’s Scottish Parliament election, regardless of the report from the House of Lords. I would like to see 16 and 17 year olds in Scotland voting in Holyrood in 2016, and indeed the 2017 local authority elections, and I believe that the test case of the referendum has proved that not only can it be done, but it can be done well.

In a recent speech that I made on Young Voters and School Debates, I welcomed the upward trend in youngsters becoming engaged in politics. This continues to rise and challenges all notions that young people are not interested in the issues that define their lives.

Getting youngsters engaged is certainly not a new phenomenon, but the trend is on the up at the moment and we want to make the most of this. The young people that engaged on either side of the debate in the referendum should not be allowed to disappear. They should continue to be part of the process and the long term vision for change, with the initial enthusiasm spurring on a long term relationship with politics.

In an online survey launched by the Scottish Parliament’s Devolution committee in which 1,252 took part, young people voted overwhelmingly in favour of votes for 16 and 17 year olds. School debates engaged pupils across the country, and locally in Banffshire and the Buchan Coast. It was in schools that around 50 per cent of young voters were informed about the debate.

Around 80 per cent of these young people watched at least one of the major TV debates, 63 per cent discussed the referendum online, and 61 per cent wore campaign merchandise. Following the referendum, 63 per cent of those polled found out more about politics, 26 per cent joined a political party and 26 per cent took part in campaigning or in political activities.

Throughout the campaign, neither side of the debate fully realised the extent to which people were being empowered from the grass roots, and I believe we would be doing our young people a disservice by failing to pursue the younger voting age as a new part of our democratic process.