Letter: Lowering voting age would be wrong

It is my opinion that teenagers today have enough stress in their learning curve and that voting should be something for them to participate in from 18 on-wards.

If Labour are concerned about the lack of turnout and involvement at elections, might we not follow Australia and others by introducing ‘Statutory Voting’ for all those over 18.

This would result in a 100 per cent turnout and hopefully shake-up the parties in the Westminster bubble.

David Rhodes

Back Lane, Ripley

What’s your view on lowering the voting age? And how do we engage young people generally and encourage them to exercise their vote?

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The Harrogate Advertiser is staging a hustings on Thursday April 9 at the Cedar Court hotel in Harrogate.

All five candidates for the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency will be on the panel, to set out their stance on a range of issues, and answer questions from the audience.

The event starts at 6pm and will be chaired by the editor of the Harrogate Advertiser, Jean MacQuarrie. Doors open at 5.30pm

Everyone is welcome to attend, and there is no need to pre-register. Anyone who would like to table a question in advance can send it to [email protected]

Questions will be taken from the floor on the night.

The panel is: Andrew Jones (Conservative); Jan Williams (Labour); Helen Flynn (Lib Dem); Shan Oakes (The Green Party); David Simister (UKIP).