16 year olds to be able to vote in next general election
Labour's manifesto committed the party to lowering the voting age for parliamentary elections to 16, in line with Scottish and Welsh elections.
Plans announced today, Thursday, July 17, are to increase participation in elections.
Further plans proposed to introduce automated voter registration, which is already used in Australia and Canada, and to make UK-issued bank cards an accepted form of ID at polling stations.
'It's really important that 16 and 17 year olds have the vote' @Keir_Starmer tells ITV News Westminster Reporter @DennyTheJourno that he will lower the voting age to 16 by the next general election https://t.co/tSdDe4UWeE pic.twitter.com/oFbWmdC9mw
— ITV News (@itvnews) July 17, 2025
16 years to be able to vote as the voting age has been lowered
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said 'far too many people' had been put off voting by the voter ID rules introduced by the previous government, with the Electoral Commission finding around 750,000 people did not vote due to a lack of ID.
The Government has already made the Veteran Card an accepted form of voter ID, and intends to allow digital forms of ID to be used when they become available.
Recommended reading:
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: 'For too long public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline.
'We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy, supporting our plan for change, and delivering on our manifesto commitment to give 16-year-olds the right to vote.'
The change in the voting age will mark the biggest change to the electorate since it was reduced from 21 years old to 18 in 1969.
When is the next general election?
The last general election took place on July 4, 2024. At the time of writing, the exact date of the next general election has not yet been confirmed.
Another general election could take place if the Prime Minister called a snap election.
In the past, snap elections have been called by a PM following a vote of no confidence.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Corbyn strikes again as Labour lose their first councillor to the former leader's ultra-left party founded with Zarah Sultana
Labour have lost their first councillor to the ultra-left party former leader Jeremy Corbyn recently founded with dissident MP Zarah Sultana. Grace Lewis, 22, defected from Sir Keir Starmer 's party on Friday to join the new political grouping - which at present is only a 600,000-person-strong mailing list. Ms Lewis, a vocal pro-Palestinian voice on Coventry City Council, represents the ward of Westwood in the southwest of the city. In a post on social media she laid into Labour's record in government, citing Sir Keir's raid on winter fuel payments, cuts to disability allowance and the party's retention of the two child benefit cap. In the statement she said: 'Today, after 5 and a half years, I resigned my Labour Party membership. I will now serve the residents of Westwood on Coventry City Council as an Independent. 'The Labour Party promised 'change', yet since entering government, Labour has cut support for disabled people, kept the Tories cruel Two Child Benefit cap and slashed Winter Fuel Payments - driving record numbers into poverty. 'Rather than address the real crises facing people in our city, they have chosen the side of the rich and powerful. 'They have joined Reform in targeting minorities, including migrants and trans peple, all whilst being atcive participants in the genocide in Gaza, ramping up spending on war, and arming Israel - criminalising peaceful protestors in the process.' Coventry councillor Grace Lewis, 22, (pictured) is the first serving Labour politician to defect to Your Party, the new political grouping formed by former leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-MP Zarah Sultana Ms Lewis was elected in the City Council Elections on May 2, 2024, two months before Sir Keir Starmer's 'loveless landslide' at that year's General Election. She won her seat with 1936 voters on 47 per cent of the ballot, with the Conservative candidate Asha Masih finishing second on 1415 voters on 35 per cent of votes. Ms Lewis began her two-year term on May 7 and also sits on the City Council's Planning Committee, Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board and Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board. In her short time as an elected councillor she has courted controversy on several occasions - most noteable in her vocal support for the Palestinian cause. Last December she lambasted Israel in a council meeting for carrying out a 'genocidal assault on Gaza', The Telegraph reported. In the same meeting she called for the West Midlands Pension Fund to divest from any investments with companies involved in arms sales to Israel. Ms Lewis also carried over her advocacy into her personal life, wearing a badge of the Palestinian flag to her graduation day last year at the University of Warwick. In another graduation picture she can be seen holding a hand-painted banner with two other students that reads 'Free Palestine'. In the Instagram caption accompanying the photo she wrote: 'My degree may be over, but Warwick's complicity is not #freepalestine.' Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana's movement has the website with a welcome message saying 'this is your party'. Already 600,000 people have signed up to the party's mailing list, although the name is only a placeholder, with Mr Corybn suggesting the members will be handed the final say. Government ministers who used to sit alongside Mr Corbyn in the House of Commons mocked the 'chaotic' launch of the veteran MP's new party. Yet Mr Corbyn shrugged off the criticism and said there had been an 'enormous' response to the launch. Speaking during a visit to a bin strike picket line in Birmingham on Jult 25, he pointed out that hundreds of thousands had already flocked to the new outfit. The party is expected to hold its inagural conference in November and Mr Corbyn has outlined a focus on peace, social justice and an end to austerity economics. In her statement outlining her reasons for quitting Labour, Ms Lewis attacked Labour's spending plans which she said locally included cuts to libaries and charities. But Ms Sultana immediately sowed confusion by insisting a name had not yet been chosen. She frantically posted on social media: 'It's not called Your Party.' She wrote: 'They have continued austerity and failed to properly address the deepening crisis of Local Government finance, with many authorities still at risk of bankruptcy. 'Here in Coventry, the Labou Council cuts library services, cultural funding and support for local charities. 'And when workers stand up to fight for decent living standards Coventry City Council responds by strike-breaking, sending Tom White Waste trucks to Birmingham, insulting the very trade unions which the party was founded to defend. 'This is not the change peple voted for, not the changed I joined the Labour Party for when I was 16, and certainly not the change which people deserve. 'Therefore, I welcome the launch of a new left party, one rootred in working-class communities and committed to real change.' Cllr Lewis added: 'When Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn announced its inception, I felt a sense of genuine political hope for the first time in a long time.' In a post on X commenting on the defection, Zarah Sultana said: 'Grace is a formidable force in local government and I'm proud to welcome her to the new political party we're building! 'Across the country, millions feel politically homeless. Labour is dead. To councillors everywhere: are you really delivering the change Keir Starmer promised?' Polls have suggested the new party headed by Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana could take between 10 and 18 per cent of the vote at the next General Election, which would prove disastrous for Labour nationally. The so-called 'Hastings Independents Group' - which consists of MPs who left Labour in December 2023 - have already affiliated with Your Party. Councillors Paul Barnett, Andy Batsford, John Cannan, Nigel Sinden, Mike Turner, and Simon Willis are all onboard with the new grouping, which seems set to shake up the left of British politics. In an email to supporters, Your Party confirmed their first conference will be held before the end of 2025. They wrote: 'This conference will be the moment where, together, we will decide the direction, structure and platform of this party. 'To make it as accessible and democratic as possible, the conference will be hybrid – both in-person and online – so that everyone can take part in the decisions that will shape its future. Make no mistake: whatever the name, it is always going to be your party.' However, those inside the Labour cabinet have been scathing about Your Party. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told Times Radio: 'I was an MP in the Labour Party when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. 'And the chaos and instability that he brought to our party I'm now viewing him wreak in his new party. 'I'm just very glad that I'm looking on it from the outside this time, rather than having to experience it from the inside.' Mr Kyle, who campaigned for Mr Corbyn to become prime minister at the 2017 and 2019 general elections, said the veteran left-winger was 'not a serious politician'. He added: 'The thing that worries me the most about what he says is that he doesn't want to spend money defending our country. 'He is against the money that Labour is investing into the defence of our country. 'At the moment, these are the things that should fundamentally worry us about the words of Jeremy Corbyn. 'He's not a serious politician. He doesn't think about governing, he thinks about posturing.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Keir Starmer must fight for UK drug firms
The life sciences industry is among the brightest jewels in the British economy, generating £100billion a year and employing more than 300,000 people. At its heart is the development and manufacture of pharmaceuticals, notably by AstraZeneca, which spends vast sums on research and is worth £167billion. So, if this hugely successful company were to relocate to the US, it would be a disaster both for the London Stock Exchange and the wider economy. Worryingly, this is not out of the question. AstraZeneca already sells 40 per cent of its drugs to America and, following President Donald Trump 's tariff threat, is ramping up research and production there. While there are no immediate plans to desert the UK, chief executive Pascal Soriot is said to be 'flirting' with the idea. Mr Trump's latest demand that foreign drug companies cut prices to US customers or face penalties may be an added incentive. The Left has always been highly critical of 'Big Pharma', accusing it of profiteering on the backs of NHS patients. Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour planned to create a state-owned drug manufacturer with the power to override the patents which enable firms to make profits from their research. Only last year, Sir Keir Starmer refused to help fund a new vaccine plant in Liverpool – while pouring public money into our ailing steel industry. This Government must understand that failing to nurture AstraZeneca, GSK and others would be a catastrophic mistake. And Sir Keir should realise that while they say they want to remain in the UK, they may yet change their mind. Car lenders off hook Banks and credit providers will have heaved a huge sigh of relief yesterday after the Supreme Court ruled they will not have to pay compensation to millions of motorists who bought cars on finance without being told the dealers were receiving commission on the loan. The Treasury was also delighted with the result. Had it gone the other way, damages could have been comparable to the PPI scandal, which destabilised the financial industry for more than a decade. The court decided that dealers did not have a duty to act solely for buyers and that commissions were not a form of bribery in the legal sense, as had been alleged. However, it was not a total exoneration. Court President Lord Reed also ruled that excessive commission payments were unfair and ordered one buyer who had been charged 25 per cent of the value of the car to be repaid with interest. This opens the way to further claims. Many brokers and dealers were paid behind-the-scenes commission by lenders to sign buyers up to car finance deals, a practice deemed 'unlawful' by the Court of Appeal in October last year - a decision that was successfully appealed by lenders at the Supreme Court The dealers and lenders have escaped their worst fears, but they do not come out well. They have certainly been guilty of sharp practices even if not illegal ones. The Competition and Markets Authority must now force them to clean up their act. OAPs feel the cold In September, Rachel Reeves promised she would 'put more money in pensioners' pockets'. What she didn't say is that she would take even more out. Research shows pensioner households are an average of £800 worse off after a year of Labour thanks to higher bills – mainly owing to the Chancellor's £40billion Budget tax raid. With more taxes coming down the track to fill Labour's ever-widening financial black hole, the cost of living is set to soar further. For all Ms Reeves' promises, the elderly are in for a bitter winter.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Trump demands UK pharmaceutical giants to lower drug costs sparking fears NHS could pay the price if they refuse
Donald Trump has demanded UK pharmaceutical giants lower prices for America and suggested charging others to make up the difference. He said if they didn't, the US would deploy 'every tool in our arsenal' to protect families from 'continued abusive drug prices', sparking fears the NHS will end up paying more. Mr Trump suggested he would use tariffs to push through higher prices if countries resisted. In May Mr Trump signed an executive order demanding drugmakers cut US medicine prices to match those abroad. Yesterday in a letter to 17 pharma companies he said he expected them to deliver on measures by September 29. He asked them to apply 'most favoured nation' pricing to Medicaid, the US health programme for people on low incomes. Mr Trump also asked drugmakers to offer new medicines at the same price in the US as in other developed countries. He said: 'Our citizens pay massively higher prices than other nations pay for the same exact pill... subsidizing socialism aboard [abroad].' British pharma companies AstraZeneca and GSK were among the recipients. Others included Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Sanofi. The UK Government said it would 'continue to work closely with the US to get the best deal for our pharma industry and deliver mutual benefits for both our countries'.
