Is it time to give 16-year-olds the vote?

Would you return safe in the knowledge that your offspring will have taken good care of your most valuable possessions? Or would you spend the entire time fearful of a repetition of the famous Yellow Pages advert? The miscreant child desperately ringing up furniture restorers as mum and dad head home.

Learning to trust our children as they grow up is one of the most difficult tasks for a parent and perhaps this is reflected in the nation's stance on voting.

Sixteen-year-olds are deemed old enough to have children and to start working and paying taxes. One year older and they can drive a car or go to work.

Yet they have no say in deciding which politicians will spend their taxes or in choosing a government that may one day send them to war.

This was the basis for an intriguing debate I attended earlier this week. I went in with an open mind but emerged convinced that the age of majority should be lowered to 16.

I agreed with one speaker who dismissed the notion that teenagers aren't mature enough to vote by arguing that the immature actions of many older people should therefore bar them from elections.

Many speakers felt lowering the age was justified because it would lead to more people voting and therefore Parliament will more accurately reflect the views of society.

It wasn't this line of argument that convinced me, however, simply that we want an equal and fair society and if we expect 16-year-olds to act as adults then we should treat them as such.

But this does not mean the Government should not step in to help young people as they encounter the wiles of the outside world for the first time.

In particular, I am becoming increasingly concerned with the way credit companies seem to target the young. We have created a Get Now, Pay Later mentality.

I make no secret of the fact that I detest buying anything on credit. Indeed, the last time I produced my somewhat dusty credit card I was informed I had a poor credit rating. This was not because I had defaulted, but because I had not used the card enough.

I am not calling on the Government to ban credit cards or restrict them to people over 21, but I do feel they must ensure companies explain to customers in plain English what charges they will face.

And I do feel there is a case for Government action with regard to those charges. Why is it that, with base rate at an all-time low, we find some credit card companies charging over 20 per cent interest?

Competition law and close scrutiny has led to mortgage companies in general passing on interest rate cuts to householders and I see no reason why the same influence cannot now be exerted on credit companies.

We have to learn to trust our children and lowering the voting age is an important step. But that does not mean we cannot use the benefit of experience to ensure the next generation does not repeat the mistakes of the past.