He’s not daft

Stuart Waiton (Perspective, 25 October) raised several interesting points regarding the decision to give 16-year-olds the vote in the forthcoming referendum.

In his piece, he questions why this decision was taken.

Cynics might say First Minister Alex Salmond does nothing simply because he feels it is “the right thing to do”. In this case, his judgment was probably along the lines that, lacking political and economic experience, these young people might be more easily swayed by his arguments based on his idea of Scottishness.

Why, then, was this not opposed by the other parties?

Mr Salmond might be many things, but daft is not one of them. He knows perfectly well that, whatever the other parties might think, his majority would mean his wishes would be carried out.

Furthermore, he would know very well that the opposition dare not speak out against lowering the voting age, as he could then use this as an argument to persuade more young people to join his cause, along the lines of: “The SNP is the only party which can trust the young people of Scotland to make the right decision.”

As I said, he’s many things but not daft.

Alastair Gentleman

Linlithgow