voting

[darchyboy]

is it just me or were they planning on lowering/raising the voting age in the past  what happened to it.                      by the way tigga, who are u again  i cant seem to find my last question

[tigga]

What was your last question about ?

 

[tigga]

I seem to remember there was a sit of a campaign to get the voting age lowered to 16 so that younger people could have a say in the governing of their future.

As for last question, if you go to the top of the page, click on 'my details' then click 'profile' and select 'all threadsim involved in'- 'my question' or 'my answers', all your history on the site is there on one page !! Good innit.

And i was only kiddin mate !   :-)

[bernardo]

There is an on-going campaign to lower the voting age to 16, and it is likely to be included in the Labour Party's manifesto for the next general election.  It is already supported by the Liberal Democrats, Green Party, SNP, Plaid Cymru and various others.  I myself was always against votes-for-16s until recently, and I am now undecided.  I think it's called "Votes at 16" so try googling that.

[flanker]

God I do hope note: most 16 year olds do not have the maturity to make an informed choice. Personally, I think this is a cynical ploy by the labour party to ensure continued power, as most adolescents tend to be left leaning - I think it is safe to say (very sadly) that New Liars will get a third term, and by introducing this bananas policy they may possibly get a fourth term. My only hope is that the British electorate will wake up on polling day next year and vote Tory to oust this duplicitious lying rabble.

 

Oh, and on the question of votes, I fervently believe that people should demonstrate a modicum of political awareness (in the form of an exam) to be eligible to vote: I work with somebody who doesn't know what a hung parliament is for gawds safe.

[georgit79]

Tigga are you a boy or a girl?

[tomd]

Is it legal for me to offer you my vote? I have no intention of voting at all, it only encourages them.

[tigga]

Georgit79, im all male- what on earth made you think otherwise ???? x

[bernardo]

There is no point in "voting Tory to oust this duplicitious lying rabble" because the Conservative Party is just as hell-bent as the Labour Party is on keeping the UK subservient to the tyrannical dictatorship of the EU.

I predict that the Labour government will win an even bigger majority in the House of Commons next year than in 1997, with less than 40% of the votes, and on a much lower turnout than 2001.

[archbishop]

Tigga, Georgit79 is looking for a boyfriend.

[AB Editor]

Tigga, Georgit79 and everyone else knows they aren't going to find true love here. Answers and opinions, but not true love.

[SB76]

To answer the orginal question, the Government ran a public consultation on lowering the voting age to 16.  After the consultation it concluded that there was not enough support in the country for the move, so the proposed reform has been shelved.

It won't be in the Labour party manifesto, although many people in the party still support the idea.  As for flanker and bernardo's comments on Labour and Europe...

I think the reason why young people tend to be more left leaning is because they are less cynical and unpolluted by the barrage of rightwing propoganda we get in this country.

if the choice is 8 more years of Labour, or the Tories and pull out of Europe; Labour gets my vote everytime.

[bernardo]

SB76: It is not possible for the UK to "pull out of Europe", because that would require hundreds of millions of years of geological change and continental drift.  In case there is any doubt, I will clarify my position:

• I am pro-European
• I am against the EU
• I am centre-left

WVNBIVDB

[bernardo]

Going back to the original question:

 

I am still (on balance) for 18 rather than 16, but I recently discovered a significant fact which tends to the argument for votes at 16:

 

A survey was done of people who were aged 17 and 18 in 1992.

Of those who were 17 in 1992, 49% voted in 1997;

Of those who were 18 in 1992, 65% voted in 1997.

 

In other words, being able to vote early makes people more likely to vote in the long term, not just in the first instance.

WVNBIVDB

[rick7]

Why shouldn't they be allowed to vote at 16. They're allowed to have sex at that age. 

If they're old enough to know what to do with their rude bits then they're old enough to elect a monkey to Westminster.