Contribution
My Lords, my five minutes segue neatly and very nicely from what the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, has just said.
If the Bill is about renewing our democracy, it should be not simply about widening participation, which it is appearing to do very well, but about deepening democracy, which is why I strongly support extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year-olds. I enjoyed the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Macintosh of Eastwood; I agree with much of what he said and welcome him to this House.
Before entering politics, I was an assistant head teacher of a large comprehensive with what now would be called PSHE. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Bailey, that teachers are asked to deal with far more controversial issues than why they have the values they have in joining a democratic political party.
As noble Lords can imagine, I got to know 15 and 16 year-olds rather well. I spent years trying to persuade teenagers that turning up on time was a good idea, that deadlines were not merely advisory and that adults occasionally knew what they were talking about. I regret to say that the results were mixed.
What I learned was that young people are curious, questioning and far more interested in the world around them than we often assume from their grunts from underneath their headphones. So, yes, let us give them the vote, but—and it is a big but from me—if we are extending democratic rights, we must also think seriously about democratic education, which has been mentioned by a few noble Lords. Citizenship education has been treated as an optional extra when it should be regarded as essential democratic infrastructure, and teachers are, as the noble Lord, Lord Bailey, said, often quite nervous about teaching about politics.
Young people should leave school understanding not only how to vote but how Parliament works, how local government works, how decisions are made, and, very importantly, how they can influence them. Yet, from my experience, I fear we approach such civic education with a certain nervousness.
During my years in politics, like many noble Lords, I was invited to speak to sixth-formers about my role. Almost invariably, before I began, someone would quietly whisper in my ear and say, “Don’t be too party political”, as if it is somehow a dirty secret that you are “a Liberal Democrat!” I understood the intention—schools should never be seen to promote a particular party—but there is a huge difference between party-political advocacy and teaching young people about politics itself. What I found quite excited me. They invariably wanted to talk about politics; they wanted to understand why we disagreed and why we reached different conclusions, and how different values and priorities shaped political policy. They also wanted to know what I earned—that was a common question. In other words, they wanted to understand democracy.
If we want young people to become active citizens, we should not sanitise politics; we should help them to understand it. Political parties competing in ideas, honest disagreement and freedom of speech are not embarrassing by-products of democratic life; they are its lifeblood.
My second point concerns representation. For all the progress we have made in politics, it remains a difficult environment, for some people more than others. Women know this only too well. Over the years, I have had the joy of rubbish dumped on my doorstep, lights smashed on my car and all manner of unpleasant things sent through the letterbox. I was even given the rather charming nickname of #wickedwitchofwestwatford. I was grateful it was not the whole of Watford.
Most women in public life have such stories of their own. We laugh about them and treat them as part of the job, but perhaps we should stop and ask why. Representation is not simply about whether people have the legal right to stand for office; it is about whether they feel able to do so. Every time I have spied a talented woman and they decided not to stand for election because “It’s not really for me”, and every time an elected representative leaves public life because the personal costs have become too high, our democracy loses talent, experience and perspective. Issues such as candidate safety, intimidation and abuse are therefore not peripheral concerns: they go to the heart of our democratic constitution.
I welcome the Bill and I give the Minister notice that I expect to bring forward amendments on citizenship, political literacy and the barriers that can still prevent full participation in public life.