Government of Wales Bill

I thank the Minister for that response and I thank noble Lords who participated in this short debate. I understand the view of the noble Lord, Lord Norton, on this. He does not see the need for empowering 16 year-olds. However, that runs counter to, for example, the government policy of teaching citizenship in our schools. That assists young people to become more mature about the society in which they live and about the responsibilities of living in a democracy and exercising the freedom of choice through the ballot box. Very often between the ages of 16 and 18, other things take over and young people’s interest in politics, particularly among those who leave school at 16, wanes. I was interested in the response of the noble Baroness, Lady Gale. I see no reason why Wales could not take the lead as far as the voting age is concerned. She was an ardent supporter of the creation of the Children’s Commissioner and of the Commissioner for Older People in Wales. Those are two firsts for Wales and the position is different from that in the rest of the United Kingdom. I see no reason why the lowering of the voting age to 16 should not occur. I am sure that some of us will remember that although we were entitled to vote at a certain age, there was not an election for four years so we did not exercise our vote and had to wait for it. Many of us could vote at 21 but some of us had to wait until we were 25 to vote. There is a delay that needs to be taken into account. I thank the Minister for his response, in which he said that the Government are listening on this issue and trying to grapple with the issue of low turnout at elections. We see this amendment as one way of reversing that trend. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendment No. 24 not moved.] Clause 12 agreed to. Clauses 13 to 15 agreed to. Clause 16 [Disqualification from being Assembly member]: [Amendment No. 25 not moved.] Clause 16 agreed to. Clauses 17 to 24 agreed to. Clause 25 [Presiding Officer etc.]: