Letter: Making votes at 16 a win for unionism requires engagement now
A letter from Ben Sharkey:
Following last Tuesday’s motion in Stormont, unionists should make actively supporting and engaging with the ‘Votes at 16’ campaign a priority, before it’s too late.
It is long past time that we discard the notion that a 16-year-old, who we deem able to enter full-time employment, would somehow be incapable of making an informed decision at the ballot box, particularly when they could be supported by comprehensive and impartial political education.
Even if you have concerns about this change, it is important that unionists are seen to want to contribute to a dialogue with those passionate, young activists who see this as a priority.
If we don’t, I worry that the narrative of “siege mentality” unionism will only be strengthened.
During the 2024 Westminster election campaign, when I stood as the Ulster Unionist candidate for Belfast West, I represented my party at a husting for youth issues, with lowering the voting age being chief among them.
I was there and able to refute when a Sinn Fein representative made the false claim that unionists don’t seem to support votes at 16, despite it having been my party’s policy since 2012.
However, unfortunately, this idea that unionists won’t even engage in a conversation around lowering the voting age is one that has spread, and it wasn’t helped on that night by the DUP and TUV not being in attendance.
It is not enough for us to make the case for the Union if or when the voting age is lowered to 16. We have to be in the corner of our young people now, championing the causes that are important to them.
If unionism is not seen to at least be actively engaging with the conversation around lowering the voting age, then the current narrative that we are apathetic to the passions of our young people will solidify, and this could be just another occasion when we are seen as on the wrong side of history.
Ben Sharkey, Belfast BT6