Lower voting age move 'exciting'

Oct 11 2012

Plans to give the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds in a referendum on Scottish independence is a "very exciting opportunity", the Labour chairman of the Backbench Business Committee has said.

Natascha Engel, MP for North East Derbyshire, said she supported the idea of allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if she thought the move would open the door to the possibility, she said: "Yes, I hope it does. We've been campaigning for a very long time to lower the voting age to 16 and this is a very exciting opportunity that's being presented in Scotland to demonstrate that when you do give the vote to 16-year-olds that the sky doesn't fall in."

Ms Engel said the time had come to have a "very open debate" on the issue not just in Parliament or the Scottish Parliament, but in the general population.

She said: "I'd very much welcome to have a debate on the floor of the House of Commons on lowering the voting age to 16 and I think the time has come for it, I think attitudes have shifted."

Former Scotland secretary Lord Forsyth of Drumlean has said the issue had "huge implications" and should not be decided in "closed corner negotiations".

The criticism during an urgent question in the Lords came after Prime Minister David Cameron said in his speech at the Conservative Party conference that he would meet First Minister Alex Salmond on Monday in an attempt to finalise a deal on how the referendum will be staged.

It is likely to be held in the autumn of 2014 with voters given a straight choice between independence or remaining in the United Kingdom. It is also expected that 16 and 17-year-olds will be allowed to take part in the ballot.

Speaking on the radio programme, Lord Forsyth said any "fundamental change of this type" needed to be properly debated and considered by the House of Commons.

He said: "What is happening here is that Alex Salmond is attempting to bully the Prime Minister into agreeing to having 16-year-olds voting in the Scottish referendum in return for having a single question on independence, which is what he committed himself to in his manifesto. I think once that has happened it will be impossible to argue that 16-year-olds should not have the vote in all elections."