Lower Voting Age Warning

A House of Lords report is warning that plans to give voting rights to 16-year-olds in Scotland are being pushed though Westminster without being properly scrutinised.

The change would give the Scottish Parliament powers to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote for Holyrood elections in 2016.

The House of Lords Constitution Committee say the proposals amount to a "significant constitutional change" with implications for the whole UK.

Both the UK and Scottish governments have dismissed the criticism.

SNP MSP Christina McKelvie said:
 
“The fact a Tory former Scottish Secretary and a group of unelected peers want to put roadblocks in the way of Scotland’s young adults being given the vote speaks volumes – it is utter hypocrisy and shows how out of touch Lord Lang and his House of Lords colleagues are.
 
“The involvement of 16 and 17 year-olds in the independence referendum was a huge success and contributed massively to the democratic engagement Scotland witnessed.
 
“These unelected peers believe that giving young adults the vote in Scotland will ‘lead to pressure’ for it to be extended to 16 and 17 year-olds in other parts of the UK – they are quite right, but that is something to be welcomed, not condemned.
 
“The bottom line is that Westminster must transfer the powers needed for younger people to vote in next year’s Scottish Parliament election – regardless of what the House of Lords thinks. The referendum showed it can be done, in a way that doesn’t create data protection issues, and Scotland’s 16 and 17 year-olds must be given the chance to vote at Holyrood in 2016.”