CALLS for the voting age to be dropped to 16 will be debated in the town hall chamber tonight.

Cllr Christopher Peacock has put forward a motion urging Bolton Council to support giving 16-year-olds the right to vote.

He will be joined by Bolton’s youth MPs, Ebony Cropper and Tresor Mbuyi, in the council chamber as he argues that teenagers are capable of engaging in the democratic system.

Cllr Peacock told The Bolton News that the move would be a positive one.

He said: “I have always been supportive of votes for 16 year olds.

“When I was a cabinet member for youth services I have seen first hand how passionate young people are about politics.

“Stopping young people from voting is not the way we should be doing politics. I can’t see an argument why a 16 or 17 year old should not vote.

“It is wrong that they can work and pay taxes, but not have a vote on how they are set.”

Cllr Peacock first got involved in politics in his early twenties, and is one of the youngest councillors in the chamber.

He added: “I always remember the excitement of being allowed to vote at 18, but I also found it strange that I could work and join the armed forces, for example, at 16 but not vote.

“The argument that young people are too immature to vote is wrong. It is the same argument opponents had to not giving women the vote – that women were naturally immature and unable to cope with the difficulties of politics.

“It was wrong then and it is wrong now.”

If approved, his motion would see the council formally write to the town’s three MPs and leaders of the four major political parties, asking them to include dropping the voting age in their manifestos ahead of the 2015 general election.

You can follow all the action from tonight’s full council from 7pm tonight on The Bolton News live blog.