Should the voting age be lowered to 16?

My problem with children being given a vote is that they're not really full citizens yet.

Generally speaking, they pay barely any tax, they're not legally accountable for many of their actions, they don't own property, the're legally obliged to attend school full-time, few have real jobs, and their parents are in complete control of their life. They have no autonomy or real responsibilities.

Having a vote is about having representation in government and I'm not really sure what that would mean for someone who doesn't really make any decisions. Their interests are pretty much identical to their parents and their parents already get a vote.

If there was evidence that a huge number of 16-year-olds were working full-time and renting homes and doing adult stuff, then I'd be happy for them to have the vote.

Otherwise, they're just voting for representation in the future - which is arguably justifiable because in 2 years they will be an adult but it's not a huge number of people that it will effect. You need to be turning 16 just in time for the next general election.

/r/unitedkingdom Thread