1. You can leave home at 16: At 16 you can live in a house on your own without parental consent, this means you pay bills and are responsible for your own life and time, completely independent  from parents. Your parents can go to court to try and get you back if they want to, but it is extremely unlikely that the court would side with the parents unless they think the 16/17 year old concerned is in danger in any way, so they will almost always side with the young person.

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2. You can pay tax: Despite popular belief, you do indeed pay tax at 16. You can't pay income tax, but do pay up to 20% tax on most goods and services, pay national insurance if in employment and pay tax on fuel if you drive a car at 17. This tax goes towards the exact same things as the income tax paid by the over 18s. So yes, we can and do pay tax at 16. What's more, is that the over 18s who earn less than £12,570 pounds a year do not pay income tax just like 16 year olds, yet they can still vote. 

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3. You can work: At 16, you can be in employment and be working just as hard as the over 18s who get to vote. If just as much time and effort is put into their job (which may be a job that benefits the entire country) then they should surely have a say in how things that might affect that job are dealt with.

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4. You can smoke at 16:  You may not be able to buy cigarettes at 16, but you can legally smoke them in public without a police offer being able to confiscate them. Whether you can buy them or not, the same effects occur whatever your age. The government obviously deem 16/17 year olds able of making this decision, otherwise it would be illegal. 

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5. You can drink alcohol at 16: As with the above point, you may not be able to buy alcohol at 16 but you can legally drink it. It is actually legal for anyone over the age of 5 years old to drink on private premises. It is also legal for anyone over the age of 16 to drink in a restaurant if sitting down for a meal. Whether you can buy it or not doesn't matter, you are still consuming it all the same.

 

6. Cognitive ability does not affect a persons voting ability: It is an untrue yet common misconception that 16/17 year olds do not have the mental/cognitive ability to understand politics or make informed decisions. This is extremely untrue and derogatory, but even if it were true in any case, that would not affect their right to vote. Patients in mental institutions, people with Alzheimer's disease and anyone who has a cognitive disability still has the right to vote. What's more, some research suggests that cognitive decline can actually start as early as 30 years old. So, with this said, why should a, say, 40 year old, or someone with a cognitive disability be able to vote when 16/17 year olds in their cognitive prime are denied this right?

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7. They have life experience: Some argue that 16/17 year olds do not have enough life experience, but that could be said for anybody. For example, a 30 year old has not been around for as long as a 45 year old, and the same goes for someone who is 80 having more life experience than a 50 year old. So why do we suddenly assume that a small 2 year age gap makes someone's life experience less valid than others? Many 16/17 year olds have experienced many things in their lives, such as: Becoming a young carer, joining the work force, experiencing or being targets of social, racial or economic injustice, having different cultural experiences/backgrounds, experiencing the foster care system, dealing with physical and mental illnesses, dealing with the loss of a loved one and also taking on the pressure put on them in mainstream education when taking GCSEs and handling the mental challenges that come with that. 16/17 year olds all have different life experiences from each other, just like the rest of the adult population do, and those life experiences should be just as valued as anyone else's. 

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8. You can raise a family at 16: At 16, you can get married, give consent and have a baby. There are 16/17 year olds that have custody of their babies and can legally be responsible for that baby's life and make decisions for them regarding medical, educational and lifestyle decisions while they are not yet able to make them themselves. Those 16/17 year olds that do have babies can often become amazing at parenting in itself. so how is it alright for a 16/17 year old to be able to have the life of another human being in their hands and be responsible for that life (let alone their own) yet they can't help make the fundamental decisions that will affect that life or the future of it? 

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9. They are mature and politically informed: It is another untrue yet common misconception that 16/17 year olds are not mature enough to make important decisions or understand the political system, which is again a derogatory statement that is far from the truth. Immaturity does not suddenly disappear at a certain age, there are many 16/17 year olds that are far more mature than some 60 year olds. Many 16/17 year olds are far more politically informed and are aware of the political situations affecting them and their country (amongst worldwide issues) these days than 16/17 year olds may have been during previous generations, as they have access to the internet and also have been made more aware of certain political topics due to the increase in education of these topics in schools. Furthermore, a person can make a political decision based on whatever premise they want, so who is to say what a "mature" decision is in the first place? There are some adults that vote by rota, meaning that they vote for the same political party each time no matter how the circumstances, policies or political leaders have changed, simply based on the fact that they voted for them once and will therefore vote for them again. So, how is it fair that a 70 year old who has decided to vote for a certain party purely because they voted for them last time (without having seen what the new policies are) be allowed to vote when a 16/17 year old who has done their research and taken information from the social media accounts/ websites of the political parties themselves cannot? I agree that there are some 16/17 year olds that are not mature enough to make a political decision, but there are just as many adults that this applies to. The 16/17 year olds who aren't mature likely won't be interested in politics, so therefor will not get involved or vote. So, the question of maturity is not an issue. Lowering the voting age would give those 16/17 year olds who are interested in politics a chance to be heard.

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10. They are becoming increasingly aware of political issues: 16/17 year olds of this generation have an increased awareness of things going on in the world, and fully understand the issues that we face. At the same time, they are acutely aware that they are being ignored and can't really do much about it. Having this level of awareness along with the knowing that there isn't much they can do to affect and help these issues can actually cause more harm than good. Knowing that all you can do is sit back and watch from the side lines can cause anxiety, aggravation and depression. If we were to have the chance to vote, we would also have more peace of mind knowing that we have at least done something to help and had our input listened to.  

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Conclusion: With all that said, there is no justifiable reason to deny 16/17 year olds the right to vote. It is a change that should have been made a long time ago and one that will only bring positives. Once upon a time, women were denied the right to vote and did not receive this right until 1918. We now understand that denying women the right to vote was inherently wrong. Similarly, people of colour did not fully gain equal voting rights (free of discrimination that is) in the USA until 1965, which we now understand was also inherently wrong. Now, 16/17 year olds are denied the right to vote, which is indeed inherently wrong. We must work together and fight for this change to be made to bring justice to the youth of today.    

 

 

       

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