Electoral reform campaigners are to step up demands for 16- and 17-year-olds to be given full voting rights across the UK, after parties at Holyrood backed the measure for Scottish parliament and council elections.
The Scottish parliament voted unanimously in favour of allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections late on Thursday, barely 4o minutes after the Commons rejected cross-party moves to do so for the European Union referendum.
Katie Ghose, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said those contradictory votes by the two parliaments would increase the democratic deficit for younger voters within the UK, particularly for English and Northern Irish teenagers.
It widened the gulf between Westminster and devolved legislatures in Scotland, where the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson supported the extended franchise, and Wales, where the Cardiff assembly will soon have powers to extend the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds for local elections.
“Today’s vote at Westminster was a huge missed opportunity for our democracy, and we hope MPs will rethink the decision to exclude well over a million young people from the EU referendum,” Ghose said, after MPs voted 310 to 265 against the measure.
“There is still time for this decision to be reversed while the bill is going through, particularly after the precedent-setting example in Holyrood when Scottish MSPs voted to extend the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds.
“With 16- and 17-year-olds getting the vote in Scotland, and soon Wales, Westminster shouldn’t let this become an issue which drives a wedge between the nations of the UK. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds deserve a vote in the upcoming EU referendum.”
Tory officials argue the Scottish and Welsh reforms were in part possible because the UK government had quickly agreed to devolve powers over the franchise in devolved and local council elections to reflect demand, even though the Tories at UK level reject the idea.
MSPs rejected a Liberal Democrat proposal to allow 16- and 17-year-old young offenders to vote, but the wider reform in Scotland is seen as a direct consequence of substantial political and popular support, after more than 120,000 16- and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote in last September’s Scottish independence referendum.
Turnout for that age group hit 75%, with high levels of political engagement found by researchers at Edinburgh university.
Bruce Crawford, the senior SNP MSP and former minister, said: “It’s now time for the Westminster parties to follow the historic, progressive example set by Scotland, and ensure that our young people are not prevented from making their voices heard on an issue of such importance to their generation – and that the debate around Europe is as inclusive and participative as the gold-standard of Scotland’s referendum last year.”
