logo
UK to lower voting age to 16 – but not everyone is convinced

UK to lower voting age to 16 – but not everyone is convinced

Independent6 days ago
The UK government has announced that the voting age will be lowered to 16 at the next election as part of a wider effort to restore trust in and 'future-proof' democracy.
Votes at 16 has grown from a niche concern to become a salient – if contentious – issue supported by most UK political parties and electoral reform groups.
The Conservative Party remains a holdout, but has never acknowledged the contradiction of its continued opposition to the universal lowering of the voting age while empowering the Scottish and Welsh parliaments to enact the measure during its time in government.
This is a policy response to concerns about declining youth democratic engagement since the late 1990s. Since 1997, the UK general election turnout rate for those aged 65 years and over has consistently been at least 20 percentage points higher than for those aged 18-24.
Some opponents argue that the Labour government is lowering the voting age to 16 for its own electoral interest, but we should remember this was a clearly stated election manifesto commitment. Votes at 16 was part of the package that delivered Labour to government in 2024 on a huge majority.
That said, public opinion remains steadfastly opposed. The government will need to handle this tension carefully, ensuring that 16- and 17-year-olds are not treated as second-class members of the electorate as this debate pushes forward.
For and against
As when the voting age was universally lowered to 18 in 1969, the case for change has pivoted on perceptions of maturity and markers of adulthood. There was considerable political and public consensus in the 1960s that 18 was the appropriate age of majority and enfranchisement. This link has endured, and many people continue to think under 18s are too socially and politically immature to vote responsibly or regularly.
Supporters of reform emphasise the need to align enfranchisement with other rights realised before or at age 16 – such as paying tax, medical consent, working, autonomy to make decisions about future education and work lives, and undertaking military (if not frontline) service.
Opponents respond by noting the age of majority remains 18, and that the minimum age for many protective and social rights, such as marriage and leaving full-time education, has been pushed upwards to 18 in the past decade or so.
But while 18 remains the legal marker of adulthood, transitions from youthhood to adulthood have become extended and complex. There is no single age point at which young people realise all the social and economic rights and responsibilities associated with adulthood.
Biological maturation extends from late-stage childhood until early adulthood (mid-20s). Traditional markers of adulthood, such as financial independence, owning a property, or getting married and having children, are occurring later in life than in previous generations.
It is more than 50 years since parliament last reflected and reviewed how society understands and frames issues of adulthood and citizenship linked to the ages of majority and enfranchisement. Lowering the voting age to 16 offers a timely opportunity to do so again.
Extensive parliamentary debate lies ahead as this bill makes its way through to becoming law. MPs should take that time to discuss and build consensus around what British democracy should offer young people, and how enfranchisement should be conceptualised for future generations.
Lowering the age is just the start
Now that 16- and 17-year-olds are part of the electorate, we can hope that political parties will improve their responsiveness to the interests of young people.
Unfortunately, where the voting age has already been lowered, we've not yet seen parties address their skewed decision-making, representation or electoral behaviour, which continues to favour older voters. The average age of elected representatives has remained around 50 years of age in all UK national and devolved parliaments, and higher in local government. Few young people join political parties or are active in their campaigning.
There is also significant evidence that, regardless of whether the voting age has been lowered or not, young people are not appropriately supported to be politically and media literate to understand how and when to vote, and to make informed and independent voter choices.
So, lowering the voting age should only be the first step in a more concerted effort to improve political literacy and democratic engagement as young people grow up. This should begin in primary, not secondary, school and continue through further and higher education.
Elected representatives should hold regular school surgeries where they meet children and young people, and listen and respond to their issues and concerns. Young people need to learn to discuss political issues in school settings, and political parties should host election hustings in schools and colleges. Young people should also be involved in decision-making in their schools and communities.
Lowering the voting age offers an opportunity to reinvigorate how we host elections to ensure young people enjoy voting for the first time – and encourage their future participation.
Making electoral registration automatic, as the government has promised, will help. But joining the electoral roll is a significant civic moment in young people's lives. Schools should host electoral registration ceremonies where pupils are welcomed into the electorate by local elected representatives, and automatically given a voter authority certificate so they have an appropriate piece of voter ID.
Political parties need to embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity that voting age reform presents to secure the future health of British democracy.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

MPs urge ministers to introduce long-awaited rules on supply chain deforestation
MPs urge ministers to introduce long-awaited rules on supply chain deforestation

The Independent

time28 minutes ago

  • The Independent

MPs urge ministers to introduce long-awaited rules on supply chain deforestation

MPs have called on ministers to introduce long-awaited rules aimed at removing products from UK shelves that have been farmed on land where trees were cut down. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to Environment Secretary Steve Reed calling for urgent action to tackle the issue in supply chains. Under the previous Government's proposals, businesses will be prohibited from using or selling goods containing palm oil, cocoa, beef, leather and soy linked to deforestation. This due diligence system was part of the 2021 Environment Act but ministers are yet to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation or set a timetable for when they will do so. EAC chairman Toby Perkins asked Mr Reed to set out a specific date for introducing the legislation 'ideally before the New Year' so that the rules can be in place for the new financial year in April. The letter said: 'Delays in bringing forward this legislation makes the Cop15 agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and the UK's commitment to ending deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, harder to achieve. 'However, it also leaves businesses with uncertainty and will leave them with less time to prepare and comply with the regime. 'On 2 June, in your response to the Committee, you recognised the urgency of taking action to ensure forest risk commodities are not driving deforestation and stated you would set out the Government approach in due course.' Several British supermarkets recently warned that they are in 'limbo' waiting for the Government to introduce the new rules. In an open letter earlier this month, retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Lidl said deforestation presents an increasing risk to supply chain stability as well as food security. But they also said the UK could suffer millions in export losses to the European Union if Government inaction leaves businesses unprepared to comply with the bloc's own deforestation rules, which are due to come into force at the end of this year. Asked recently whether the Government has a timetable for introducing the legislation, the Environment Secretary told the PA news agency: 'Currently no, but we are working at pace so we can do this as quickly as possible.' On the supermarkets' letter and whether the Government is looking to speed up progress on introducing the rules, Mr Reed said: 'Absolutely.' 'I agree with the supermarkets,' he said. 'The previous Government was just dragging their heels without ever coming to a conclusion about what we do about protecting forests in other countries as well as in our own country. 'And of course forests, trees, woodlands were very important for capturing carbon and cleaning the atmosphere so we don't want to be importing food that has been grown where the forests have been destroyed. 'The Government is working with supermarkets, with food producers and internationally to make sure we get the outcome and we can do that as soon as possible to give everybody certainty about how we move forward on this.'

What does the overturning of a City trader's fraud conviction mean for deregulation?
What does the overturning of a City trader's fraud conviction mean for deregulation?

The Independent

time28 minutes ago

  • The Independent

What does the overturning of a City trader's fraud conviction mean for deregulation?

Tom Hayes, the former City trader who was jailed in 2015 for his part in rigging inter-bank interest rates, the so-called Libor scandal – was a patsy. The former UBS and Citigroup trader was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison, later reduced to 11. This week, that conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court. I'm all for white collar criminals getting their just desserts, but Hayes' penalty always seemed more than a little excessive. It is more than twice what the rogue trader Nick Leeson got for bringing down Barings Bank. However, proportionality never came into this. Hayes' trial was designed to deliver a head on a plate to a public that was justifiably angry about what the City was getting up to after the bankers nearly crashed the economy. There was a widespread feeling that overpaid boys – and they were mostly boys – with massively inflated egos and little sense of morality were thumbing their noses at the rest of Britain, which was just starting to feel the impact of the then-government's austerity policies. But Hayes, who ended up serving five-and-a-half years, had nothing to do with that crisis, and contributed not a whit to austerity. Libor – the interest rate at which key banks were willing to lend unsecured loans to each other – was unregulated at the time, which also wasn't Hayes' fault, but rather an issue for the politicians and regulators who were asleep at the wheel. It did ultimately set the rate for a number of loans, including some mortgages, but the day-to-day activities of Hayes and his peers didn't have much effect on what ordinary borrowers paid. No one was able to convincingly show any, otherwise we would have seen a string of compensation claims. The chief losers were likely other trading desks, which were often playing the same game anyway. That's not to justify what went on. Cheating is still cheating, and the whole business knocked confidence in the City and its markets. But, then, the whole system was a joke. 'Tom Hayes' penalty always seemed more than a little excessive. It is more than twice what the rogue trader Nick Leeson got for bringing down Barings Bank' (PA Wire) Libor was set based on what some rube at Bank A estimated would be their cost of borrowing from other banks. These were put together, and a daily rate declared. If a hotshot trader got in touch, suggesting that the Libor guy tweak their Tuesday submission to help their trading position, they tended to comply. This is how the scandal got going. Needless to say, all this was unregulated. Yes, you read that right. Stupid is as stupid does, and this was really stupid. The Financial Services Authority, which was then the City's chief watchdog, ended up using failings in systems and controls and violations of its principles of business to justify the chunky fines it ultimately levied on the banks involved. Back to Hayes: the Supreme Court didn't completely exonerate him. It said there was 'ample evidence' during the trial that could have led to a conviction. But the judges raised issues with the trial judge's summing up, the directions given to the jury, and the impact it had on Hayes' defence. This was deemed to be unfair and the conviction unsafe as a result. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the other seven convicted traders up next. Similar cases have also been quashed in the US. The whole deck of cards is collapsing. The Serious Fraud Office said it would not seek to re-try Hayes or Carlo Palombo, another former trader, at Barclays, who received a four-year sentence for manipulating another benchmarked interest rate, Euribor, but has also won his appeal. They've done their time, and it's unlikely that the taxpayer will be coughing up any compo. Best sweep this one under the carpet because who wants all that stupid aired in public again, right? Here's the problem. The government had promised to deregulate financial services in the hope that reducing its oversight of the financial sector would light a fire under the City of London, boost the UK's stalling economy and bring in the tax revenues that the Treasury is in dire need of. This will likely involve loosening the rules governing the conduct of senior bankers that were ushered in following the 2008 credit crunch and the wave of scandals that followed in its wake, including interest-rate fixing. Can you see the problem with that? I think Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, can. Earlier this week, he advised the Treasury select committee that any big reforms to dramatically loosen City regulation – what the chancellor Rachel Reeves described in her Mansion House speech as a "boot on the neck" of business – and encourage more risk-taking might actually do more harm than good. He hinted that it might even trigger another financial meltdown. If traders can find an edge, an opening, they will jump on it. It was ever thus. They had good reason to think they had with Libor and that they were okay because there weren't any proper rules in place at the time. Their bosses will either turn a blind eye, just as they did then, or quietly encourage it, especially if the numbers come up good. And when this results in another scandal, there will be fines, which banks see as the cost of doing business, and an attempt to find another Tom Hayes to carry the can. The supervising bosses, who do the hiring and set the culture and who are supposed to be on top of what their banks are up to, will ride out the storm and pocket their bonuses as they always have. Justice, of a sort, has been served this time. But as for all that talk we heard about lessons being learned? They never are.

UK police hold pro-Palestine protester, 80, for almost 27 hours and search house
UK police hold pro-Palestine protester, 80, for almost 27 hours and search house

The Guardian

time29 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

UK police hold pro-Palestine protester, 80, for almost 27 hours and search house

An 80-year-old woman arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally has said she is deeply traumatised after she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it. Marianne Sorrell from Wells, Somerset was detained at a rally in Cardiff on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action, which earlier this month became the first direct action group to be banned under UK anti-terrorism laws. She said officers removed 19 items from her house, including iPads, a Palestine flag, books on Palestine, material related to Extinction Rebellion and the climate crisis, as well as drumsticks for – and a belt that holds – her samba drum. A friend who went to feed the cats and walked in on the police searching the house said there appeared to be a geiger counter –which measures radiation – on the table. Sorrell, a retired teacher, said: 'At 80, to be treated like a dangerous terrorist is deeply shocking. I've been very traumatised by this. Every morning I wake up feeling sick, nauseous. [I have] had to take anti-sickness pills. 'They've actually not taken anything that could be classed as illegal but it's very confusing that they're beginning to think anything connected to Palestine or support for Palestine is illegal in some way.' She said the arrests at the 12 July Defend Our Juries rally took place five minutes from the scheduled end of the one-hour demonstration, the timetable of which had been communicated to the police in advance. Sorrell was arrested with her friend Trisha Fine, 75, also from Wells and a retired teacher, who was held for the same period of time. The pair said they gave 'no comment' interviews in which they were asked whether they knew that Palestine Action supported violence and whether they were individually prepared to use violence. Eleven other people were arrested at the Cardiff rally. Sorrell said officers broke into her house through the back door before replacing the lock. Neighbours told her that about 10 officers were present for approximately three hours and her friend who went to feed the cats said she saw them poking long cotton buds into Sorrell's jars of dried goods. 'Whenever I open a drawer or cupboard, I can see that they've been searched,' said Sorrell. 'I'm not sure what they were looking for.' The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes. Fine said: 'This restriction about staying at home is an issue because my husband is recovering from cancer treatment and we planned a couple of treats which we've already booked and paid for: a trip to Madrid in late August, and a trip driving around Europe for September. I can't do those so that is pretty onerous. He's had a tough time and he deserves a break. 'And, well, am I a 75-year-old terrorist? I don't think so. It's completely out of order. You just wonder what the hell is happening with this country and this government.' She said that during her detention officers refused to let her have antibiotics she was taking for a serious gum infection and failed to call her husband to tell him about her arrest, despite having agreed to do so. Under the Terrorism Act the friends face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Sorrell said: 'I just feel if I'm put in prison for this, and even if I die in prison for this, I can't think of a better thing to die for really than for the justice of the people who've been persecuted now for almost my lifetime.' South Wales police did not directly address any of the matters raised. A spokesperson said the investigation led by Welsh counter-terrorism police was continuing.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store