•British PM Keir Starmer
The United Kingdom (UK) government has explained why it is lowering the voting age to 16 for subsequent general elections.
The development follows a campaign promise by the ruling Labour Party and is part of a broader effort to modernise the UK’s democratic system, which officials say is facing serious challenges, including low voter turnout.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended the decision, stating that younger citizens deserve a voice in the country’s future, reports AFP.
“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,” Starmer said.
“And 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.”
To implement the change, the United Kingdom (UK) government will introduce legislation in Parliament, where Labour holds a comfortable majority. If passed, it would align the general election voting age with that already in place for regional parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales.
Only a handful of countries, including Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Cuba, currently allow citizens as young as 16 to vote in national elections.
Labour ministers say the plan is aimed at reviving public trust in the electoral system.
Other proposals include introducing automated voter registration, similar to systems in Australia and Canada, and expanding the list of accepted voter IDs to include UK-issued bank cards.
The move follows criticism of the previous Conservative government’s voter ID laws, which required photo identification at polling stations, a policy the Electoral Commission found prevented an estimated 750,000 people from voting in last year’s general election.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, Executive Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, described the upcoming reforms as “the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969,” when the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18.
He noted that lowering the voting age and automating registration could add around 9.5 million people to the UK’s voter roll.
“Our democracy is in crisis, and we risk reaching a tipping point where politics loses its legitimacy,” Quilter-Pinner said, backing the government’s decision.
While the reforms have sparked criticism from some who argued that they are politically motivated, pointing to young voters’ historic leanings toward Labour, the government insists the changes are essential for a more inclusive and modern democracy.
