Would I have been fit to cast a vote when I was 16? Of course not, Labour would be wrong to lower the voting age - Andrew Vine

We had a lot of growing up to do before being given the chance to vote at 18, and those couple of years made a world of difference.

They had turned us from boys into young adults, ready to join the real world by starting our first jobs or laying the foundations of a career by studying for a degree.

Has much changed? Are today’s 16-year-olds infinitely more mature than I was all those years ago, able to make informed judgements about matters including health services, defence, welfare and social care?

Again, the answers are a resounding no. It is no disrespect to the teenagers of today to point out that they too have a lot of growing up to do before they should be given a say in electing the government.

And they have it harder than we did. They are subject to pressures undreamed of by my generation at the ages of 16 and 17 which could push them down some very dark roads when deciding who to support.

Social media, infested by lies and conspiracy theories, has overtaken reliable news outlets as a primary source of information for many.

There were incidents of deepfake videos and audio recordings designed to hoodwink voters during last year’s election, and those behind them will undoubtedly target the young and gullible at the next.

It is only a few weeks since the country witnessed just how gullible some teenagers can be, in the shocking scenes broadcast from the Glastonbury festival when thousands gleefully joined in hateful anti-Semitic chanting. Can those people be trusted to vote in the best interests of a diverse and tolerant country? I don’t believe so.

In announcing its plans, the government adopted a very lofty position in saying it wanted to give young people a greater say in their own futures. Nobody would disagree with the desirability of that, but 18 is the right age to have a say, not 16.

Pointing towards Scotland as an example of lowering the voting age working really doesn’t stack up, since it has been a factor in delivering an SNP administration with a dismal record on health and education.

The outcome is that 16-year-old voters still in full-time education are being taught in worse schools than their neighbours south of the border.

There’s nothing lofty about Labour’s real motives. On the contrary, it’s a cynical attempt at vote-rigging intended to bury the Conservatives, whose supporters tend to be middle-aged or older.

The government obviously believes that Labour will be the natural home for young, idealistic voters, as it proved during the early stages of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership before he led the party to its worst result in a century in 2019.

The party reasons that its traditional emphasis on social justice will draw them in and deliver victory at the next election, even if disenchanted older voters desert Labour.

But this is a strategy that could backfire. By the time of the next election, Labour won’t look like the party of fresh new ideas that it did last year. The government is already looking frayed round the edges and in four years’ time could well resemble the Conservatives at the end of their tenure, with no new ideas and a questionable record of achievement.

There are precious few signs of the government doing anything positive to improve the outlook for the young, especially here in the north. Only last week, a new report from the IPPR think-tank concluded yet again that our young people have less spent on them than their counterparts in the south.

That’s not an enticing prospect for a 16-year-old from Yorkshire to vote for, especially if they are also facing the prospect of leaving university with a massive student debt, struggling to find a job and seeing the chances of ever owning a home receding into the far distance.

There is another reason why Labour should be wary. The rise of Reform has seen younger people flocking to its ranks, because they are disenchanted with the two largest parties.

It is a phenomenon mirrored across Europe, where right-wing parties have attracted substantial support from younger voters in France, Germany and the Netherlands with promises of change and a better future.