Young and old agree - vote at 16 is way forward

The STUC backed a campaign to lower the voting age to 16 with support from UNISON members both young and old.

UNISON young member Jenny Roberts pointed out the contradiction that 16 year olds are deemed responsible enough to bring up children and join the military but not cast a ballot.

That’s a policy that will disenfranchise 1.5 million people at the election in a few weeks time. 16 and 17 year olds are deemed to be careless, carefree and irresponsible “But you can find people at 20, 30 or 40 who are no better” she said.

After pointing out that most of the arguments heard against are the same as those used against giving women the franchise, Jenny said, “We recruit young workers into our organisations who are 16 and 17. We wouldn’t tell them that they had no right to vote.” The motion was supported by Retired Member Lilly MacNaughton.

For Lilly it was simply an issue of fairness, “16 and 17 year olds are expected to behave like citizens, it is not fair to deny them the rights of citizens.”

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