On 10th December 2019 Dr Thomas Loughran took part in a televised roundtable discussion on the UK Voting Age. The discussion took place on TRT World and also included Dr Kaat Smets of the Royal Holloway University, Paul Schmidt of the Austrian Society for European Policy and Mete Cobain of My Life My Say. The discussion focused on the prospects and desirability of lowering the voting age in the UK. It covered a reflection on international evidence from Austria and Norway, the maturity debate and the role of citizenship education. The issues were discussed in the context of the development of ‘Votes-at-16’ in Scotland and Wales. Dr Loughran referenced findings from the research project showing that large numbers of young people do generally support lowering the voting age t0 16 but also feel they need more political knowledge in order to vote. He also pointed out that young people want the right to vote on their own terms not because they think of themselves as adults at 16.
The full Roundtable debate can be viewed online here.
