7. Debate on the General Principles of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:30 pm on 10 July 2019.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 5:30, 10 July 2019

I would happily be for a consistent age of responsibility. At the moment, that age of responsibility is deemed to be 18 for most things: for drinking, for example. Even for using sunbeds; we've legislated for that here in Wales, and, as a result of that, therefore, I think that it's recognised that young people below the age of 18, including in their mental abilities sometimes, are not fully developed—not everybody; we know that people develop at different rates. [Interruption.] We know that people develop at different rates, but the fact is that their skin doesn't develop at the—their skin isn't adult skin, which is why we try to protect them. And, at the end of the day, whilst we all know people who are fully mature at age 14, even, the reality is that you're more likely to have individuals who are fully developed at the age of 18. And it's for that reason—this reason of needing a common age of responsibility—that I think that we need to—[Interruption.]—that I think need to change things.

Now, if we're talking about people making the argument that we should be allowing young people to drink at the age of 18, because they're mature enough to make that decision, which is, I think, following the logic of everybody here, the way that people might want to go, I don't advocate that. I don't think we should be reducing the age at which young people can go and buy alcohol on their own. I don't think that we should be—[Interruption.] I don't think we should be reducing the age to 18, and that's why I think that 18 is the better age in terms of an age of responsibility, and it's the one that I would advocate.

And it's a fallacy to suggest that, if you don't have a vote, you can't influence politics, because the reality is that, as politicians, we do engage in our schools, we go into schools. When I ask them what their views are on whether they think they should be entitled to vote, not everybody says that they think that they're mature enough to make an informed decision. This is why political education, of course, is important, and education about our democracy. But the reality is that many people don't feel confident enough at that age and don't think that they ought to have that responsibility put on their shoulders. And those young people inform my views that I bring to the Chamber. The views of their parents and their grandparents, of course, who are interested in the views of young people too, help to shape the representations that I make to Ministers and others in this National Assembly too.

So, in terms of engagement with young people, you can still engage, you can still listen to them, we can still represent their views, even if they don't have a direct say in those elections by extending the franchise. So, let's have a common age of responsibility and some agreement and debate on what that common age ought to be, because I think that that's a more important debate than extending the franchise when we've got different ages for different responsibilities at the moment.