The move, following through on a campaign pledge, will give the UK one of the lowest national voting ages in the world.The United Kingdom is to lower its voting age in general elections from 18 to 16, giving the country one of the lowest voting ages in the world in what the government says is a bid to “modernise our democracy”.
The centre-left Labour government announced the plans on Thursday, following through on a campaign pledge it made before coming to power last year. The move is one of several planned changes to voting rules in a bid to improve democratic participation and remove barriers to voting.
“I think it’s really important that 16- and 17-year-olds have the vote, because they are old enough to go out to work, they are old enough to pay taxes, so [they] pay in,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
“I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go,” Starmer added.
There are currently about 1.6 million 16- and 17-year-olds in the UK.
National alignment
The change, which will still require the government to bring legislation before Parliament, where it has a comfortable majority, will align voting ages across the UK.
Currently, 16-year-olds in Wales and Scotland can vote in the devolved Welsh and Scottish parliaments, respectively, as well as …
