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"Youth Matters"

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 27 October 2005.

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Photo of Beverley Hughes Beverley Hughes Minister of State (Children, Young People and Families), Department for Education and Skills, Minister of State (Education and Skills) (Children, Young People and Families) 10:30, 27 October 2005

Clearly, there are many views on the issue. I spent some time discussing it with young people during the consultation process and there is considerable support for a vote at 16, but I do not think that anyone would want to introduce that until we could ensure that young people would use it in significant numbers. As we know, there are tremendous pressures on young people, and that is not top of the list for many 16 and 17-year-olds, although I accept that it is an issue for some. We will have to go down that route when we are sure that that is what the Majority of young people would not only want but use.

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Stephen Coleman
Posted on 28 Oct 2005 3:22 pm (Report this annotation)

There are many 18 - 25 year olds that have the vote and fail to use it. Give the vote to 16 year olds and then work to encourage them to use it.

Paul Mitchell
Posted on 28 Oct 2005 5:11 pm (Report this annotation)

Judging by general election turnout figures, around one quarter of the entitled population do not exercise their right to vote. I didn't check, but from memory I think that rises to over a half in local elections.

Sources: Google search http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+election+turnout+figures

UK Electoral Commission http://www.electoralcommission.gov.uk/

majority

The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.