GLASGOW, Scotland—There is a buzz to Glasgow I have not felt for years. It is the vibration of excited youth. For in next week’s referendum on Scottish independence, history will be made with the enfranchisement of sixteen and seventeen year olds, and they are up for the debate and the decision.

I’ve always felt young people are massively underestimated in Britain. Politicians and commentators make the mistake of thinking that young people aren’t interested because they tend not to vote in high numbers at general elections.

The truth is they have simply been ahead of the game in identifying the weaknesses of the political system and the disconnect from voter concerns. But engage young people in the things they care about and they will take part –- that’s what the Yes and No camps are finding in a vote that is likely to see unprecedented levels of turnout.

Check out the campaigns in less than 90 seconds:



This group of first time voters is small –- just around 3% of the referendum electorate. But with the polls so close, basically neck and neck when the error margin is factored in, they are a group of voters who could turn out to be crucial. According to polls, the Yes vote has a 14 percentage point lead among the 16 to 24 year-old age group.

The argument has raged about what kind of figures to use to engage young people. The temptation to get young politicians out is strong. But when I was young I tended to hate smart young things on political stages. I thought of them as jumped up and irritating, and tended to think they must be talking rubbish. I was probably not alone.

If Scotland votes YES, the Loch Ness monster will move to Lake Windermere. — Nick Harvey (@mrnickharvey) September 10, 2014

One Yes campaign adviser told me on Wednesday how wary they have been of directly targeting young voters for fear of their tendency to rebel, even when they know the rationale to be right.

So the campaigns have been debating who to put up for debates? Do you risk alienating young people with a young person? Or do you go for an older figure, relying on tapping in to the relationships and clever conversations most will have struck up at some time with grandparents, uncles and aunts? Young people are badly judged, too, when it comes to their sophistication. It always irritated me as a teenager when I was beginning my television career in Glasgow chairing a debate show called “Open To Question.” Every week a panel of young people would grill a politician or public figure about politics, history and the future. Every week adults watching would gasp at the direct questioning, the willingness of young people to ditch politeness to ask the important questions. The guests would marvel at how difficult it was to be grilled by young people compared to professional interviewers. So I was especially excited to chair a young people’s referendum debate for Channel 4 News with a cross section of Yes, No and Undecided first time voters.

There wasn’t a single dud intervention. The questions were calm, intelligent and to the point. The professional politicians put on the spot in the debate had nowhere to go. And there was a refreshing conviction. The Yes side were optimistic and the No side were positive about being part of the United Kingdom. It had none of the grumpy antagonism you might hear from adults in this city. The most striking part of the conversation came, inevitably, at the end. One after another, people in our debate told me how British meant little or nothing to them. They had no great desire to wrap themselves in an identity that encompasses the English and Welsh. Even some of those in the No camp.

And that is the bit Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg don’t seem to have understood. There is a complete mismatch in their arguments.

As the party leaders travelled up from London to love-bomb Scotland with talk of British history, a family of nations, common bonds and aspirations, it seemed many here just didn’t know what these men were going on about. Scottishness is something too many English don’t get, because we feel British. Our identity includes Scotland. For the Scots, even many of those who would rather stay in the Union, their identity is something quite different.

And all the talk of this being irreversible, drastic, tragic and heartbreaking doesn’t seem to have much effect. It may feel like the time for emotion, with the possible breakup of Britain seemingly real and close. But the emotion from those voting Yes is optimism. As we saw on Wednesday, the teenagers here aren't interested in nostalgia and sentimentality.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy is one of the main anchors of Channel 4 News.