Quote Originally Posted by Muddy Retriever View Post
That would only be true under the assumption that's people's views remain the same as they get older. The reality is that for many people they change over time. Young people are more likely to be idealistic but as they grow older their views often change as they gain more experience of the real world. There are many examples of mainstream politicians and journalists who held far left views in their student days.

As for 16 and 17 year olds having the vote in the referendum, why should they have? The age of voting in elections in the UK is 18. Of course it is true that in the Scottish referendum the Government made this concession to the SNP as part of the negotiations for holding it. (The SNP has since introduced it for Scottish Parliament elections.) But let's be honest the SNP only wanted it because they thought it would benefit them in terms of votes. Had polls suggested that 16 and 17 year olds were in favour of staying in the Union they would have been a lot less enthusiastic. I wonder if you would be quite as keen if 16 and 17 year olds were thought to be in favour of leaving the EU.

The fact is a decision was reached in a fair election organised under a typical UK franchise. Isn't it about time you just accepted the result?
Unlike the normal drift to the political right with age, I think people's ideas on Brexit - given that it is binary, and not a spectrum - will be more fixed. As to the voting age it is of course just a matter of opinion, but I think 16 and 17 year olds should be able to vote - it would be part of their education and give them a sense of responsibility, and, after all, education issues affect them more than the rest of us.

We don't have to accept the result of an election we do not like, we can hope for a vote of no confidence/lots of defectors to the opposition and so on - and that is in a situation where we will vote again in 5 years time at the most. The Brexit result is dodgy on so many levels - how vague does a referendum have to be, how low can the turn out be, and how many blatant lies have to have been told before the result should be declared null and void and the whole referendum question clarified and repeated?