Old enough to vote last year. Too young to vote today. What’s that about?

To say that 16-year-olds are too immature to vote is just wrong

Young voters leave a polling station in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh (Reuters)

The decision to lower the voting age to 16 for last year’s referendum on Scottish independence massively changed young people’s interest in politics. I was 16 and I was one of them – given this opportunity because it was recognised that people as young as 16 would be a) mature enough and informed enough to play their part, and b) hugely affected by the outcome of the referendum in later life.

The referendum engaged a generation because they could vote. At my school – Hutchesons’ Grammar School in Glasgow – it was constantly talked about in classes. To see politics discussed with such a passion was fantastic. I went with the school to the Big, Big Debate at the Glasgow Hydro, and this was when I really saw the effect that allowing younger people to vote had. Thousands of 16- to 17-year-olds were fully engaged, cheering for their favourite politician like they were a football team. Social media exploded. Everyone had an opinion and would argue day and night with a passion for politics never seen before.

Now we’ve just had a general election in which all the momentum that had built up among Scottish 16- and 17-year-olds has been wasted. All that interest in politics squandered. If my generation was allowed to vote in the Scottish referendum, then how come we – and those of my age in other parts of the UK – were denied that same chance in yesterday’s general election?

For those of us so engaged last September, it made no sense – not least because I’d say many of my peers were far more interested in the general election – the result of the experience we had voting in the referendum – than previous ones, and we would definitely be voting for the right reasons.

Lowering the voter age would surely improve voter turnout. In Austria, the voting age was lowered to 16 in 2007, and turnout in its 2008 election was an astonishing 78.5 per cent.

Voter apathy affects the UK to a serious extent and lowering the voting age would certainly help tackle the issue.

To restrict a demographic so engaged with politics is simply unfair. Many of my contemporaries wish they could have voted in the general election. It was so contentious with implications that will affect us all for years to come.

To vote in the referendum was an excellent experience. I felt like I was directly contributing to government. Many of my peers felt the same and want nothing more than to contribute to society by voting for who and what they want.

To say that people from aged 16 and 17 are too immature to vote is simply wrong. We’re at an age when we’re deciding what we want to do with our lives. We’re discovering ourselves as individuals, and young people will become far more interested in politics if they can be an active part of the process.

The independence referendum was unlike any political event that came before it. For years experts had been trying to engage people through various media campaigns, but none of them worked as effectively as the independence referendum.

It turned out that all younger people needed to cure their political apathy was being included in the voting process. So when will UK general elections allow us in?