During the last general election, my grandson’s secondary school held a mock election in which the oldest students voted (Voting age to be lowered to 16 across UK by next general election, 17 July). The majority voted for Nigel Farage, not because of his policies, but because the students thought he was “hilarious”. To this result, my 16-year-old grandson said: “And that’s why they don’t give 16-year-olds the vote.”
Unless secondary schools and sixth forms start teaching politics and political systems in school and encourage the notion of informed debate, young voters will get their information from social media (and not from the Guardian app).
Having a well-informed tranche of young voters would be wonderful. Imagine an interested and probing group of voters who could challenge policy and refuse to put up with obfuscation.
However, unless we enable young teenagers to find the facts among the overwhelming amount of disinformation on social media, this move could end up being Keir Starmer’s Brexit.
Janet Perkins
Horsham, West Sussex
• Reducing the voting age to 16 is long overdue. For far too long, old people have had the arrogance to believe that they know best. They almost never change their voting habits. They read the same newspaper as they have always done, for confirmation bias, making them liable to information distortion. And for many, dare I say, their cognitive degeneration can put them out of touch with reality. I may have become a grumpy old man (now in my eighth decade), but I still recognise that young people are more refreshing philosophers.
Dr John Fletcher
Dundee
• Rowena Mason draws attention to the disappointing turnout by 16- and 17-year-olds in the 2021 Senedd elections (Lowering the voting age: a boost for UK democracy or a shot in the dark?, 17 July). I was a member of the committee that recommended the lower voting age in Wales. But we also stressed that better civic education is needed if 16- and 17-year-olds are to become politically engaged. That did not happen. The UK government needs to learn that lesson.
Paul Silk
Crickhowell, Powys
• I have no problem with votes at 16, provided that schools allow bona fide political parties access to their students. When I taught in a West German grammar school in the mid-1970s, the main political parties often used to man a stall in the playground, offering literature and other information to potential student voters.
I struggle to find such freedom in our schools, where politics, if discussed at all, tends to be theoretical rather than practical and certainly never party-based. Had we on these islands lived under a dictatorship, we might be less afraid of grasping the nettle, as countries like Germany have.
John Marriott
North Hykeham, Lincolnshire
• So, the voting age is to be lowered to 16 by the next election. Is this to get their disgust and distrust of politicians in early? It might be better for the government to spend time looking at why voter turnout is so low, rather than make it worse by increasing the size of the electorate. The cabinet could do what it promised (change, not more austerity) and all politicians could represent the people’s wishes.
Martin Smith
Guildford, Surrey
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