Empower the young

As we nudge ever closer to the Article 50 trigger date I wondered what the age demographics for the last 2 referenda that populations of the UK had faced were, and particularly how the youth had voted in both instances..

In the Scottish vote on whether they should remain part of the UK, some 54.2 of 16-24 year olds voted to remain whilst in the Brexit vote (only open to 18 year olds up) 75% of those younger than 24 voted to remain.

The problem for the youth in the Brexit vote was that the oldest generation, 65+, voted overwhelmingly to leave. By contrast the older generation in the Scottish referendum sided with the younger generation in voting to remain.

I voted remain and believed that was the right thing to do for a myriad of reasons. I am confident however that with the right will we can make the decision taken the right one in the long run as long as the 27 other member states don't look to punish us (cutting off their noses to spite their faces) for our decision to leave.

I do feel that as they are the future of any country and society we should empower our youth. We ask them to make decisions about their futures from as young as 16 (A-levels or not, apprenticeships as an alternative. By 17 or 18 they are deciding whether to attend university or not, whether to take on the extraordinary debt levels university brings with it (possibly the 2nd largest investment most of them will make in their lives and yet they are disenfranchised. This seems counter intuitive given the effects that others voting can have on the future that lies before them.

Youth brings with it a certain innocence and naivety that is optimistic and full of its own clarity, often seeing past vested interest.

Youth disenfranchisement serves to delay participation and fosters a subsequent disregard for establishment and the decisions taken on its behalf.

Surely as we ask the youth of today to make increasingly bold, and life changing, decisions at such young ages we should empower them with a say in the future, one they can help mould.

Youth empowerment helps provide a gateway to inter-generational equity, civic engagement and democracy building.

Empower the young - after all they have to live with the decisions taken longer than anyone else.

#empoweryouth