THE POLITICS FILE: Votes for teens is a contentious issue

But now it's come far closer to becoming a reality, with a bill bringing it into law being introduced this week.

I'm more than used to political arguments going on in my Twitter mentions, but the scale of reaction to yesterday's announcement caught even me off-guard.

There aren't many things which have promoted quite as fiery a reaction, with my notifications filled with countless people saying it was about time and and equal number claiming it was the worst idea since Neville Chamberlain decided letting Hitler do whatever he wanted wouldn't do any harm.

There's a popular myth that young people in general are more left-leaning, and therefore giving 16 and 17-year-olds the chance to vote is an anti-Conservative conspiracy intended to extend Labour's domination in Wales.

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Indeed, Winston Churchill is often misquoted as having said: "If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain." For what it's worth, there's no record of him having actually said this.

But the fact is this simply isn't true.

Get off the internet for a minute and you'll find there's as many young people who consider themselves politically conservative as those with liberalism running through their veins.

It's true that liberalism is traditionally seen as the politics of idealism, and there's an argument that it's far easier to be idealistic when you're still young and haven't been knocked about by life as much as someone with a few miles on the clock.

But it's far too simplistic to say no one who isn't legally an adult is ever going to vote Conservative. Indeed, there's a strong and vocal young Conservative movement in Newport - long seen as Labour heartland.

So to claim letting 16-year-olds vote is a transparent political bid by Labour to boost its own support is something of a red herring.

The real issue here is one of political education.

Think back to when you were 16 - I know for a fact I was politically clueless. If I'd been able to vote I probably would have based it entirely on who I liked to look of the most. So to give teenagers, the vast majority of whom will still be in school, the chance to play a real part in democracy is no small change.

It's certainly not the case that all young people don't know the difference between Diane Abbott and Jacob Rees-Mogg, but understanding the subtle differences between Labour and Conservative policy on transport, for example, is far beyond most adults, let along youngsters.

For their part, schools have already been given materials to help young people get a better grasp of politics, but work on that needs to begin now.

And that has exciting implications. There are 13-year-olds in Welsh schools today who will be able to vote in May 2021, and they could have more than two years of political education under their belts before they get the first chance to vote.

This is something my generation and those before me didn't have, and provides an important opportunity for today's young people.

While it wouldn't be fair to say letting 16 and 17-year-olds vote is a done deal, with a reform of this magnitude requiring a 'super majority' of at least 40 of the 60 AMs to vote in favour of it to become real, the Assembly wouldn't have introduced it if they didn't think it would get the support it needs.

Assuming the changes get the go-ahead - and it is little more than a foregone conclusion - the results of the 2021 Assembly Election will be very interesting.

- This week Delyth Jewell took up her place in the Assembly, in Steffan Lewis' former seat.

Delyth Jewell

She used her maiden speech to make a heartfelt tribute to her predecessor, who died last month aged just 34.

We'll have a full interview with Ms Jewell later in the week, but in the meantime we wish her the best. She's got very big shoes to fill indeed.