Hansard

The Government always does its homework, and on this issue—perhaps more than on many others—the legal position is clear. A legal challenge would be very unlikely to succeed.

It sounded at times as if Labour’s argument was intended to create an artificial point of difference between it and the Government. However, I welcome James Kelly’s statement in summing up—I think that I am quoting him directly—that the SNP Government is right. I welcome that approach, and I hope to hear much more of it in future debates.

Annabel Goldie raised the issue of individual voter registration. The draft Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2013 confirms that individual electoral registration will not commence in Scotland until after the referendum. The draft order is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny and is likely to be laid in July, and we understand that it will be made towards the end of the year. I hope that that gives Annabel Goldie the assurance that she seeks.

Annabel Goldie also—along with Patricia Ferguson—raised the issue of the children of service voters. The bill contains arrangements for services personnel that are identical to those for local government and Scottish Parliament elections. As is the case for other polls, however, there is no provision for eligible children of services personnel to make a services declaration.

The committee asked the Government to look specifically at the options for those young people. We have done so, and I reported back to the committee on 4 June. We have spoken to the Electoral Commission, the UK Government and registration officers, and I have sent a fairly detailed note to the committee that sets out that although the numbers that we have been able to obtain are not conclusive, they indicate strongly that the issue is likely to apply to—if any—only a very small number of young people.

The broad conclusion that we have reached is that a new route could be created to registration of young voters, which would create an additional category that would apply to young people who are in that situation. However, we are also of the view that that is a substantial change to the registration process and that we are required to give it detailed and careful consideration. Service declarations do not form part of the annual canvass, so the issue can be dealt with on a longer timetable to allow progression of the bill in time for October. We have therefore not proposed changes at this stage, but we will give the issue further consideration over the summer and will report back to the committee. In the meantime, I will welcome any views that the committee is able to offer as we take forward consideration of the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill.

I want to devote the rest of my remarks to the centrepiece of the bill, which is, of course, the extension of the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds. We have heard some excellent and very eloquent speeches during the debate from Bruce Crawford, Annabelle Ewing, Stuart McMillan, Patrick Harvie and others. I believe, as I know many people across the chamber do, in votes for 16-year-olds for all elections. I look forward to the day when this Parliament can legislate to achieve that—something that will be one of the many gains of Scotland’s becoming independent. However, in the meantime, it is right that we extend the franchise when we can. I believe that it is absolutely right that we extend the franchise for the independence referendum.

Politics can occasionally be cynical, and in what has been a very good debate we perhaps heard some of that cynicism in Annabel Goldie’s suggestion that the move to extend the franchise is a ploy by the Scottish Government to exploit what she described as the “wide-eyed innocence” of the young. However, I hope very much that she and I are both living proof that wide-eyed innocence is not the sole preserve of the young. My serious point is that in the same speech Annabel Goldie also speculated that young people would not vote for independence. I simply and politely suggest that she cannot have it both ways. The point that I want to make is this: young people, like everyone else, will make up their own minds on how to vote in the referendum. Patrick Harvie was absolutely right: they are as diverse as any other age group and as able to make up their minds as any other age group.

The point of principle is that regardless of how 16 and 17-year-olds vote as individuals, it is absolutely right that, as a group that has the right to marry and to raise children, they also have the right to vote in the referendum to shape the future of our country. I am very proud that this Parliament will afford them that right when we come to vote in a few moments.

We will all spend a great deal of time and energy trying to persuade young people and everybody else to vote the way we want them to vote, but I am very confident that for young people who are on their own personal journey to independence, the argument that Scotland should take responsibility for its own decisions, which will allow us to build a country that is wealthier and fairer—a country that, as Winnie Ewing so famously said, would speak with its own voice in the world—will have enormous appeal to young people and to the population generally. It is the argument that I believe will win the day.

It gives me great pleasure now to ask that members support the motion and approve the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Bill.