Voting Age (Reduction) Bill
Brooks Newmark calls for more focus on trying to motivate 18 to 21-year-olds to vote.
Mr. Brooks Newmark (Braintree) (Con): Does the hon. Lady recognise that one of the big challenges is that it is hard enough to get 18 to 21-year-olds to vote, yet they too, at an earlier stage, called for more representation and wanted a say in politics? Surely we should focus our energies on trying to figure out how we are going to motivate them to get voting instead of continually trying to lower the age limit.
Julie Morgan: The hon. Gentleman makes an important point that I have considered carefully. However, I believe that by involving young people at a younger age we are more likely to involve those in older age groups as well, because people can get into the habit of voting when they are still in schools and institutions. One of my reasons for introducing the Bill is the hope that it will get all younger age groups voting.
The popular assumption is that young people are not interested in politics, and engagement in formal politics is certainly a problem. To follow the hon. Gentleman's point, in the 2005 election only 37 per cent. of eligible 18 to 24-year-olds voted-a sad indictment of the situation. Nevertheless, young people are politically aware and active. We all know how enthusiastically they join campaigning organisations and pressure groups on many issues.
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Mr. Newmark: On the point that the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr. Jones) made, I note that one of the supporters of the Bill is the hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow), who, if memory serves me correctly, was a very active member of the Federation of Conservative Students. That shows that anybody can change over time.
Mrs. Laing: I am glad that my hon. Friend made that point. I appreciate that the issue is not relevant to the debate, but I feel that I must jump in and defend the reputation of my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (John Bercow), who was indeed a leading member of the Federation of Conservative Students. However, he most definitely emerged as one of the most responsible members of that body. When it was disbanded by the then chairman of the Conservative party, he was elected the leader of the new Conservative youth wing. It is important to separate his reputation from that of the part of the Federation of Conservative Students that was disbanded. I apologise for that long explanation, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but we cannot have defamatory remarks made.
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Mr. Newmark: Unfortunately, as we have seen, particularly in the past 10 years, many people leave school at the age of 16 who still do not even understand the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. The fact that they leave school at 16 should be no basis for the hon. Gentleman's argument. My 14-year-old daughter Lily is a particularly sophisticated person when it comes to politics. Under his argument, why should she not have the vote? I still do not understand his argument.
Harry Cohen: Leaving school is one of the factors in my argument, but I point out to the hon. Gentleman the young lad whom I saw yesterday in the Select Committee on Work and Pensions. We were holding an inquiry into carers, and this young man was a carer who had cared for his parent, a very ill woman. He is not as bright as the girl whom the hon. Member for Epping Forest is going to employ-he will not have the same academic qualifications-but he will have grown up through that role. He has now left school and is going on to college, and I think that he was mature enough to have the vote at 16. Leaving school is just one of the indicators, but it is an important one because it leads us to the next one. People can start work at that age, and the point about no taxation without representation comes into play.
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Mr. Newmark: The hon. Gentleman tries to make the point that people can join the armed forces and get married at 16. That is not true-one needs parental consent to join the armed forces or get married at 16.
Harry Cohen: That point was made earlier and tackled effectively. When children are already on the path to adulthood, a parent would not want to stand in their way, and in most cases they do not. However, the point is that they can join the armed forces and get married at 16.
