Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 20 June 2017.
I’m personally in favour of extending the voting age to 16. And I fail to see why, if it’s good for Scotland in one referendum, it can’t therefore apply across every election, put bluntly. There’s no rational for doing it for one vote, but not for others. For many years in this Chamber, politicians of all parties have wrestled with how we get more young people engaged in politics, fearing that they don’t vote. We saw lots of them voting in droves at the general election, at levels I’d not seen before, particularly in the morning. In my local polling station it was very, very noticeable. I certainly want to see that trend continuing, because it’s hugely important that voting isn’t seen as something you do when you get into middle age.