I AM reasonably sanguine about the proposal to reduce the voting age to 16 (Echo, March 9). It is likely many younger voters will follow the pattern of others and not use their vote.

In any case most registered 16- year-olds will always have to wait until they are 18 to 20 before a general election comes along.

But the criterion for the voting age should be established. There is one issue which should give younger people pause for thought.

The voting age was only reduced to 18 when a particular slogan became embedded in a depleted generation: “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote.”

Eric Shuttleworth, Darlington.