#YouthVoiceNews, weekly | 17th July | Votes at 16! .. Govt Plans & Reaction ..

  ITV commissioned a Merlin opinion poll of 500 16 and 17 year olds on mainland Great Britain [why not Northern Ireland who are affected by the legislation?] and reported that half disagreed with the policy despite a slim majority backed it at 51% to 49%.  That perhaps not surprising given that many young people do not feel prepared yet, but given the example of Scotland where democracy education has featured in they were first allowed to vote in 2014, the same poll revealed that 79% were in favour there.   The BBC reported on a roundtable meeting between a youthled campaign by @MyLifeMySay and the Minister for Democracy, with several  interviews with young campaigners.    Whilst most political parties back the move – the Conservatives remain opposed with the shadow Minister claiming that the Governments attitude toward the age of majority is confused.  Mr Holmes told MPs: “This strategy has finally revealed their ambition for allowing a 16-year-old to vote in an election but not stand in it, probably because young people are being abandoned in droves by the Labour Party. So, why does this Government think a 16-year-old can vote but not be allowed to buy a lottery ticket, an alcoholic drink, marry, or go to war, or even stand in the elections they’re voting in?”The Reform Party are also opposed with Nigel Farage saying – “I don’t think you should be able to vote in an election unless you’re also eligible to be a candidate, and I don’t think 16 year olds should stand for Parliament. So no, I’m not in favour of it, but I’m really encouraged by the number of young people that are coming towards us,”

Comment: “Its been a long time coming – 25 years or successive campaigns and waves of young campaigners supported by a range of organisations passing on the baton to the next generation – all of them deserve credit for the success of the campaign. There is much more to do and the current campaigns are focusing on ensuring the transition is done well . The Politics Project coordinated efforts and input  to produce a series of recommendations in their report – RoadMap to Votes at 16, launched the day before, is a excellent example – and if its measures are implemented and young people are supported with democracy education, ease of access to voting, and some media platforms to reveal to the general public what a fantastic generation of young people they are  – Im sure the opinion polls of 16 and 17 year old which soon shift to compare favourable with  the more positive experience of  Scotland where 79% of the same age group in the same poll were very much in favour. In the meantime all parties, whatever their persuasion, would do well to paying more attention to what young people care about – especially wen as parents, teachers and employers, health professionals back the right of the views of young people to be heard and support their issues. The media will be critical mediators in this process and will need to give young people a fair hearing, perhaps appointing some ‘Youth Correspondents” to engage and mobilise young voices to not only be heard, but “counted”.  JC/Ed     

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• Establishing a minimum entitlement to democratic education from primary through to post-16 settings.
• Supporting educators and youth practitioners with specialist training, resources and guidance.
• Modernising the curriculum to prepare young people to vote for the first time.
• Expanding opportunities for young people to engage directly with politicians and influence policy.
• Launching national youth-led communications campaigns to build a new culture of participation among first-time voters.”

The event included an hour drop in for MPs. Lords and Govt officials to meet 50 young campaign ambassadors from across the UK, and other backers of Votes at 16.

Minister for Democracy Rushanara Ali responded in a measured but supportive speech, which reinforced the Govts commitment to introduce legislation “ahead of the next general election”

“This Government will soon publish its strategy focusing on restoring trust in our democracy”. [Expected to be before summer recess on 22/7/25 Check back Youth Voice News and #Votesat16Watch for updates, Ed] .

“Young people need to have their voices heard and that’s why I’m so proud of the fact that we committed in our manifesto to enfranchising 16 and 17 year olds.” and went on to say: “In each generation there must be a national conversation about how to protect our democratic system and culture so that we build on our advances and leave behind a democracy more robust and relevant to the next generation .. so ensuring that the voices of yp are not only heard but recognised and counted”. She went to assure that “We all agree that education of young people is critical so they can understand their rights but also their responsibilities and feel equipped and empowered to participate on our democracy”.-  “We are working with the Department of Education to establish which practical steps can be taken to help the education sector to support the implement of votes at 16.” and added that there is more work to do to engage all young people and to prioritise voter registration. Speaking directly to the next generation she said ” I look forward to working with you and we together to write the next chapter of our democracy, centred on making sure that young people of our nation are heard and able to shape  their future.”

Other politicians who addressed the event included Lord Blunkett (Lab) who stressed the importance of citizenship education,  Will Forster MP (LD) who stress assured attendees they would support the legislation and give them hell if they didn’t follow through. Baroness Natalie Bennett (Green) called for votes at 13 and Chris Ward MP ( PPS to the Prime Minister) stressed that whilst the a majority in parliament where in favour of reform “we still need to go out and win the argument in the country”, and secondly that we needed to “get the process right,  modernising the curriculum”, with a “minimum level of democracy education in schools”

• The Roadmap to Votes at 16 was funded by The UK Democracy Fund and coordinated by The Politics Project through the Democracy Classroom Network.

These included continuing to develop the Youth Voice Observatory, a depository of good practice evidence; a new reflective framework – to be piloted in September; an annual youth voice survey to map what’s happening; and engagement with the sector to gather and share good practice resources. The previous Centre had advisory groups of Young Ambassadors, and Practitioners.  All the network is England based, its expected its new UK wide remit will involve engaging with the nations, and some youth work units already do another recently announced Lottery funded projects – Amplify (see previous issue).   Joe Rich, Head of Youth Voice at the National Lottery which awarded the grant  “The ambition for Centre for Youth Voice has always been to remain an independent resource for all to access to understand what and how young people are telling us what they need.  The new home will provide this along with new opportunities for exploring new ways of listening.  We are excited to be working with the Regional Youth Work Units on this and want to thank YMCA George Williams College and Young Ambassadors for all their commitment and hard work to get it to this point.”

Comment “Youth Voice Heard had been lobbying funders to support such a ‘centre’ to address the gaps in the youth voice movement  for many years and had welcomed and worked in partnership with the previous Centre’s managers hosted at the YMCA George Williams College. I’m delighted the grant is going to this network whose experience of  youth voice, influence and participation is well-established across both youth work and democratic engagement sectors.  They are delivery partners for UKYP and had previously supported the British Youth Council in England) . I look forward to collaborating on sharing good practice and promoting the revived centres outcomes across the UK. JC/ED 

This recognition programme honours young individuals for exceptional community endeavours. Each inspirational young person selected, receives the BCyA Medal ( inscribed with the words ‘For the Good of the Country’), a Certificate of Honour and the opportunity to use the post-nominals BCyA, after their name. People don’t ‘enter the awards’, they are nominated – it is not a competition and therefore medallists do not ‘win an award’, they are selected for recognition. There is no fee to nominate and those that are selected to receive the BCyA are invited to the Palace of Westminster for lunch at the official Medal Presentation Ceremony in October. If you know a young person that has gone over and above, go to http://www.britishcitizenawards.co.uk and nominate them today! Information, case studies of past winners and nomination form here website.

“We had an amazing day, we all felt truly privileged to have been at such a wonderful event and to be honoured with the The BCyA (The Peoples Honours).  Dame Mary Perkins, Patron of the BCyA said: “The British Citizen Youth Award recipients are very special individuals. These young people all go above and beyond for others, with selfless acts of kindness and community spirit, with no thought or expectation of praise or reward. This Medal ceremony is a great opportunity to shine a light on what they do and give them the recognition they so thoroughly deserve. They are the nation’s true unsung heroes and the rising stars of the future.” . The awards are sponsored and supported by: Specsavers, First News, Big Bus London and Tigerbond. (Note: They are a subset of the British Citizen Awards for older folk – details also on the same website)

Comment: James Cathcart is an ambassador for the British Youth Citizen Awards and presents some of the awards at the celebrity hosted annual event at the Terrace room, House of Lords, by the Thames. “These are one of mu favourite awards and event celebrations – because, like others Ive been promoting as part of the Campaign4YouthRecognition, they only invite those honoured along with their families, to the event presentation, and some of the recipients are small children as well as teenagers. They are UK wide, and frequently covered by the local media because of the excellent work of the PR team. Every winner is entered on a Roll of Honour which appears on the website which also serves as an excellent source of case studies to inspire you to make a nomination. Mostly individual awards (Ive met Chair of Medway Youth Council one year, and a member of UK Youth Parlt on another) and there is one group award, which was won by #youthvoice champions YouthLeads in 2023!  However most of those honoured – especially children – are for individual efforts (fundraising, campaigning) based on lived experience, and not only recognises them for their community endeavours, but encourages them to continue and for others to emulate their good deeds. So Nominate Now!” Ed

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