NI Assembly vote in favour of lowering the voting age to 16
The Stormont Assembly has passed a motion calling on the voting age in Northern Ireland to be lowered to 16 in line with Scotland and Wales.
The motion, which was brought by Sinn Féin's Danny Baker and amended by Alliance's North Antrim MLA calls on the British Government to introduce legislation to lower the age of enfranchisement to 16 and calls on the Minister of Education to consider expanding civic education as part of the pending review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum in an attempt to boost voter turnout and political engagement among young people.
The DUP and TUV voted against the motion with North Belfast MLA Brian Kingston saying that it risked teachers becoming "election campaigners".
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Speaking after the motion was passed, Sinn Féin's West Belfast MLA Danny Baker said: “Extending the franchise to 16 year-olds would be positive democratically and encourage young people to engage politically.
“Young people should not be forced to depend on older voters to represent their distinct interests and varied values.
“Sinn Féin, along with others, tabled and successfully passed a motion in the Assembly calling for the vote to be extended to 16 and 17-year olds.
“While this was an important recognition, the British government retains the power to make the required legislative change and has, to date, refused to do so.
“However, the Assembly has again today backed votes for 16 and 17 year-olds so the onus is now on the new British government to honour this.
“Labour’s own manifesto committed to votes at 16 so it should now either legislate for this or transfer the necessary powers to the Assembly so we can do it ourselves.”
During the debate, while proposing the Alliance amendment to the motion, Sian Mulholland described it as a "full circle moment".
"As a youth worker in 2009, I came to this building with groups of young people from Belfast YMCA's Youth and Government Programme and then with young people from the Where Is My Public Servant? programme to advocate and lobby for votes at 16.
"15 years later, I am honoured to stand in this chamber and speak on behalf of the 16 and 17-year-olds who deserve to have a say in who represents them."
Sian Mulholland said that over the last decade, there is now a "wealth of evidence" including in Europe, South America, Wales and Scotland where 16 and 17-year-olds have the right to vote that it has led to positive engagement among young people.
"Importantly, there is no indication that lowering the voting age has any negative consequences, in fact in many cases. it has sparked a new and vibrant around politics, democracy and what it is to be a citizen. The sky did not fall in by allowing young people the chance to have their say," she said.
"Studies show that young people who are engaged politically at an earlier age tend to carry that civic engagement into adulthood which is what has been shown in Scotland. By giving them the vote, we nurture lifelong democratic participation.
"Another argument is that young voters are more likely to be swayed by emotional appeals or lack of experience than older generations. If we are being honest, this place knows more than most about that in terms of our adult generation."
Opposing the motion, the DUP's Brian Kingston said that his party do not support lowering the voting age.
"Of course young people mature and grow into adulthood over a number of years, but there needs to be a point at which they legally become an adult. We agree that that should be 18 and that should be the age of enfranchisement.
"There are already too many pressures on young people to grow up fast. Childhood should be respected and should have certain protections from the pressures and responsibilities of adult life which will come soon enough to those young lives."
Brian Kingston expressed concerns that the move would put schools "into the frontline of party political campaigning."
"The focus in schools should be on education and broadening of the mind, not on vote capturing. There would be potential and temptation for some teachers to become election campaigners.
"Some might point out that the law does allow young people to take certain decisions at the age of 16. Whether that be to leave home, leave school or have consensual sex. However, generally speaking, these are activities that government policy does not actively promote at 16, whereas exercising the right to vote is one that is proactively encouraged."
Mr Kingston also raised concerns about the potential impact on the health and wellbeing of young people by lowering the vote and asked if those advocating the change had considered the "external forces" which would come into play including the targeting of online political adverts at young people.
The motion was also supported by the UUP, SDLP and People Before Profit with Gerry Carroll saying that it was "no surprise" that the DUP were opposed to lowering the voting age as they "don't want a greater cohort of people to cast their verdict on their disastrous policies, their support for the Tories, their support of banning puberty blockers, objections to RSE, attitude towards the LGBTQ+ community, migrants and the list goes on and on."
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