Nasty Piece of Work

Here's a rather nasty article from The Telegraph newspaper which suggests that the SNP's decision to extend the vote to 16 and 17-year olds in Scotland's independence referendum was just a 'cynical ploy'.

Now I'm not an SNP member or supporter but I supported that proposal because I thought it was the right thing to do on the basis that if you can get married at 16 (amongst many other things), then it seems only right to me that you ought to have the right to vote as well.

So far from being a cynical exercise, unlike previous governments at both Holyrood and Westminster, the Scottish Government has put its money where its mouth is when it comes to trying to reinvigorate politics - and hopeful there are more reforms to follow which will include making it easier for people to cast their votes.

But one thing's for sure there will be a record turnout in the forthcoming referendum and across Scotland people are engaged in political discussion as never before which is a good thing if you ask me.

Jenny Hjul is, of course, the partner of The Telegraph's Scotland editor (Alan Cochrane) a throughly decent chap in my experience, but a fierce opponent of independence whose views on the subject appear to be shared by his 'better half'.  

Now if that's worth a major piece in The Telegraph, I'll eat my hat.         


If Scottish teens are backing the Union, in whose name are the Nats fighting?

By Jenny Hjul - The Telegraph

Photo: Reuters

Alex Salmond must be regretting his push for a change in the voting rules to get young people on board for his independence referendum. The SNP’s cynical ploy to extend the suffrage to 16- and 17-year-olds, based on a mistaken belief that youngsters would vote Yes, has backfired spectacularly as enfranchised teenagers across Scotland endorse the Union.

David Cameron said on the Today programme that in the school debates he’d been to, the No campaign had triumphed, and his experience is borne out in the latest polls. Almost two-thirds of voters under 18 are worried about the economic future of a separate Scotland.

The Carrington Dean survey of teens aged 15-17 found that 41 per cent believe their parents would be worse off, compared to 21 per cent who think that they’d be better off. The survey also found that 64 per cent worry about the economic outlook post-independence, while only 17 per cent said they weren’t concerned.

School referendums since March this year show the SNP has an impossible task ahead with young voters: 84 per cent No, 16 per cent Yes in Craigmount High in Edinburgh; 70 per cent No, 30 per cent Yes at Hazelhead Academy in Aberdeen; 72 per cent No, 28 per cent Yes in Forres Academy in Moray; and 75 per cent No, 25 per cent Yes in Orkney High Schools, according to Better Together. In Lockerbie, 70 per cent voted in favour of remaining in the UK.

In Aberdeenshire, where the SNP won every seat in the last Scottish parliamentary elections, a mock referendum of more than 11,000 schoolchildren eligible to vote on 18 September found that almost 9,000 wanted to stay in the UK.

The Nationalists say that many young people have open minds on the issue and could be persuaded to change their opinions before September. But they should be careful not to sound too patronising. The fact that so many youngsters have rejected the separatists’ spin is not a reflection of a politicised generation but a sign that parochial nationalism has not captured the imagination of today’s youth.

A Better Together rep said after a debate in his school: "A lot of my friends went in undecided but after listening to both sides, they understood that being part of the UK means we have so many more opportunities than we would if we went it alone.

"I think nationalism is a thing of the past. When we live in such an interconnected world and can speak face to face with our friends across the world at the touch of a button, why would we want to shut ourselves off from our neighbours just down the road?"

Another youngster, writing in a national newspaper, said: "Ultimately, I can’t help but ask what the purpose of independence is? Why fix something that isn’t broken?"

University students are also predominantly in favour of the status quo. A student referendum at the University of Strathclyde was won by the Unionists with 55 per cent of the vote, against 45 per cent for the Nationalists.

And when more than 1,500 students from Glasgow Caledonian University were asked how they would vote, 63 per cent said No and 37 per cent said Yes. In February last year, more than 2,500 students at Glasgow University took part in a similar event and 62 per cent voted to stay in the UK, compared to 38 per cent against.

Young people today are the products of a social media revolution and their cultural context is global. They do not see their future in terms of shrinking horizons; they are children of the universe and their outlook is boundless.

It might be convenient for the Nationalists to dismiss young voters if they don’t toe the secessionist line, and say they represent a tiny part of the electorate. But their resounding No saps energy from the separatists, and gives their elders pause for thought.

If tomorrow’s student radicals – as well as its leaders, legislators, policy makers and law enforcers – are committed to the United Kingdom, then the Nationalists have to ask themselves: in whose name are they fighting?