Group 2: Extension of right to vote to persons aged 16 and 17, and associated electoral registration (Amendments 102, 3, 4, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 86, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 43, 125, 126, 101, 100)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:55 pm on 13 November 2019.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 4:55, 13 November 2019

Thank you. Whilst I have listened carefully to what you've said, I've heard this mantra somewhere else before. And it was exactly the same mantra that was used against giving women the vote, and it was: 'They're not educated'—well, they couldn't be educated, because they weren't allowed to enter education, in any case—and they weren't able to make up their own minds, because they were immature of mind and thought. And it just has such similarities that you might as well have taken it from those statements at that time. So, I'm sorry to have to tell you that we've heard this all before, particularly the women here who have been engaged in political dialogue, and I can't accept it on behalf of 16 and 17-year-olds either.