Let's Raise the Voting Age
Seriously...
BBC
4.1 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1969 Harold Wilson's Government lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Fifty years on, with calls for votes at 16 gaining support, Professor James Tilley explores not just whether reducing it further makes sense, but if arguments could be made for raising it back to 21. As most other areas of the law restrict the rights and responsibilities of 16-year-olds, why should voting buck the trend of our rites of passage into adulthood happening increasingly late? Former Labour leader Ed Miliband offers his take on why 16-year-olds should be allowed to vote, and there's some voting mythbusting from Professor Phil Cowley, who honestly answers the question as to whether 16-year-olds really dislike him. LSE Professor of Social Policy and Sociology, Lucinda Platt offers insights into the changes in the age at which key milestones of life happen now compared to in the late 60s, and Dr Jan Eichhorn of the University of Edinburgh explains the picture in Scotland where 16-year-olds can vote. And Maisie and Lottie, campaigners from York's Youth Council, put forward their views as to why they should be allowed to vote.
Presented by Professor James Tilley
Produced by Kev Core
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box. |
| 0:05.0 | The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from. |
| 0:09.0 | And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.0 | The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.5 | The IRA inmates who found a way. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path |
| 0:19.5 | through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history. |
| 0:25.0 | The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them. |
| 0:28.5 | Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.0 | BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:39.0 | Hi, I'm Riana Dylan, |
| 0:41.0 | and you're listening to another seriously great |
| 0:43.6 | podcast from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:49.1 | The House of Commons is not an accurate representation of the population. |
| 0:53.0 | Those are things about how the system works. |
| 0:55.0 | Just show that as you get older you're more likely to vote conservatives. |
| 0:58.0 | All the more kind of policy things that annoy you. |
| 1:01.0 | Something I feel really strongly about is making sure that people with a low income feel supported |
| 1:04.8 | by the government and I feel like... |
| 1:06.3 | I'm James Tilly, a professor of politics at Oxford and I'm in York's 45 vinyl |
| 1:11.0 | cafe talking politics with two 16 year olds, Maisie Althart and Lottie Ibbetson. |
| 1:17.3 | This year marks the 50th anniversary of the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 by |
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