Plans to give 16 year olds vote in Scottish Parliament elections move forward

Plans to give 16 and 17 year olds the vote in Scottish Parliament elections have moved forward, with a Holyrood committee today backing the Bill to put the measures in place.

The Bill will lower the voting age to 16 for Scottish Parliament and local government elections, including by-elections.

It also puts in place certain specific arrangements in relation to the registration of 14 and 15 year olds to ensure they are able to vote in those elections as soon as they turn 16.

The Devolution (Further Powers) Committee received 1,025 responses to a consultation with 16 and 17 year old voters who took part in the referendum, with 85 per cent agreeing that 16 and 17 year-olds should get the vote, and a further 79 per cent saying the move should apply at UK elections.

Committee Convener Bruce Crawford MSP said: “All parties represented on the Committee and the Parliament agree that 16 and 17 year olds should be able to vote in future elections. The experience of last year’s referendum – and the enthusiasm and engagement it generated – demonstrated that young people not only want a voice, they want a vote.”

The Committee report includes evidence from Louise Cameron, Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament.

She told the Committee: “The experience of the Referendum was absolutely great. It has helped us to disprove all the arguments against votes at 16, which we have campaigned for 15 years, since the start of our organisation.

“One important thing that will result from the Bill is that more young people will get involved in the political system, and from an earlier age. It is likely that it will create a voter generation because we will be able to engage people younger, and keep them engaged throughout their lives, we hope, in the political system.”

Dr Jan Eichhorn of the University of Edinburgh provided evidence to the Committee on the benefits of lower the age of suffrage.

He said: “All measures of increased political engagement have outlasted the Referendum itself and apply to the general election context, even for the 16-17 year olds in Scotland.

“Comparing them with their English counterparts we found that 61 per cent say they had talked about “how the UK is governed” with members of their family in the last three months (roughly mid-November to mid-February at the time of the survey), while only 37 per cent of their English peers report the same.

“The higher level of engagement with political issues applies not just to concerns about Scottish independence, but UK politics more widely. The gap is even more pronounced when asked whether the 16-17 year old respondents had talked with their friends about this in the same time period, with 62 per cent of Scottish respondents answering positively compared to only 35 per cent in England.”

Draft legislation was put before the Committee in January and agreed unanimously by the chamber in March.