THE question of lowering the voting age to 16 in time for next year’s local elections will go back to all Cornwall Council members for discussion.

The issue was discussed by the Council’s constitution and governance committee last week but its members could not agree about whether the council should press ahead to make the change.

Liberal Democrat councillor Malcolm Brown had put forward a motion to full council last year calling for the change in time for elections in May 2021.

Lowering the voting age would require a change in legislation and Cllr Brown suggested that Cornwall could be used as a pilot area; young people aged 16 can already vote in local elections in Scotland and Wales, and Cllr Brown believes Cornwall should follow suit.

He said that the demonstrations by schoolchildren campaigning for climate change action, and young people leading the way in the Black Lives Matter campaigns, showed that the young are very interested in politics and political issues.

However Conservative members of the constitution and governance committee were not in favour of the move.

Councillor Linda Taylor, who is also Tory group leader, said that she could not support the proposals.

She said that while she saw a need to engage different groups in local politics and decisions she felt that lowering the voting age was too far. Cllr Taylor said that her main concern was that while anyone over 18 is recognised as an adult by law, anyone under that age is not.

She said: ’Anyone under the age of 18 has greater protection under the law, they are treated differently. It could open up a whole raft of other serious implications that may not have been thought through.’

Fellow Conservative councillor Tom French also said that he did not agree with the proposal.

He said that while young people were “far more interested in what is going on” he did not believe in lowering the age of voting.

Cllr French said that his concerns were based on his 30 years in the military and said: ’You could have 16-year-olds voting for a campaign when they would not have to go’.

Alexander Polak, head of councillor support and democratic process at Cornwall Council, told the committee that implementing any change could be difficult before the elections in May 2021.

He said that as well as the Cornwall Council elections, there were a number of other polls planned, including parish and town council elections across Cornwall, and the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall.

It was also expected that there will be referendums for a number of neighbourhood development plans which had been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cllr Brown said that despite these obstacles he wanted the council to press ahead with getting the voting age lowered for May 2021.

His proposal that it should go back to full council for discussion was supported with five in favour and four against.