Lower the voting age to 16? Don’t make me spew…

It is interesting to see that Julie Morgan, the Labour MP for Cardiff North, has introduced a Private Member’s Bill to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

One-by-one Conservative MPs rightly lined up to oppose the ridiculous suggestion by Mrs Morgan, wife to the Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan. Even the UK Youth Parliament seems to oppose the idea, casting it aside when they voted on the three most important issues to campaign on last month. And, as much as I would have loved to have been able to vote in the local elections last year, most people of my age aren’t very politically aware and the quality of the democratic outcome would, in my opinion, have decreased immeasurably, if, the new voters, even bothered to turn out to vote!

There is a great quote from popular culture that goes something along the lines of this: “with great power comes great responsibility”. This was echoed in the Parliamentary debate by Eleanor Laing, who said “whenever we create a right, there must be a corresponding responsibility!”.

By giving people the right to vote, we are also conferring on them the burden of the responsibility to vote. I argue that 16 and 17-year-olds are gradually given plenty of responsibilities as they move on through life and grow up. It is not right to pile on all those responsibilities at once. Children of younger age groups have to be protected and 16 and 17-year-olds still have to be nurtured and helped along the way while they gradually make the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Taking a look at Mrs Morgan’s unhealthy majority of 1146, opinion polling and recent election results, one could be forgiven for thinking that this is nothing more than a shameless attempt to win the vote for 16- and 17-year olds purely to win the votes of 16- and 17-year olds to keep her seat.