The United Kingdom lowers the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national elections – a movement that unsubscribes as a way to influence voters in relation to the left.
The British government, checked by the Labor party, announced on Thursday that 16 and 17 year olds will be given the right to vote as part of other new ‘seismic changes’. Other reforms of the elections include the expansion of voters -ID to bank cards, issuing new rules that are intended to “watch foreign political interference and abuse of campaigners”, and the tightening of laws that limit foreign donations to British political parties.
In a corresponding policy document that is included in the announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said that “decreasing trust in our institutions and democracy itself has become critical, but it is the government’s responsibility to reverse this and renew our democracy, just like generations have done for us.”
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks in a civil society in London, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool)
“I think it is really important that 16- and 17 year olds have the mood because they are old enough to work, they are old enough to pay taxes, so to pay in. And I think if you pay, you should get the chance to say where you want to go, how the government should go,” the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “” ” told reporters On Thursday. “I am really happy that we can bring more young people into our democracy.”
“Young people already contribute to society by working, paying taxes and serving in the army. It is only that they can have a say in the issues that influence them,” wrote Rayner on X. The Deputy Prime Minister who is also elaborated in a statement, and by protecting our elections against abuse and boosting -reinforcement for the distress. ”
The minimum age of the service in the British forces is 16, but those under the age of 18 need written permission from a parent or guardian and may not be used to combat zones.
British opposition politicians accused the Labor Party of trying to manipulate voters in their favor by lowering the voting age.
“Why does this government think that a 16 -year -old can vote, but cannot buy a lottery ticket or an alcoholic drink, get married or go to war, or even stand in the elections they vote?” Member of Parliament (MP) Paul Holmes, a conservative, said on Thursday in the Lower House. “Is the position of the government at the age of maturity not hopelessly confused?”
Deputy Prime Minister and State Secretary for Leveling, Housing and Communities Angela Rayner arrives in Downing Street to attend the weekly cabinet meeting in London, United Kingdom on July 15, 2025. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty images)
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Holmes accused work of “rule by press release” and wondered if the allowance of bank cards – which do not contain photos – as a form of voter – ID security measures in the polls.
Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing British reform party, said that giving 16 and 17 year olds is the right to vote “an attempt to sign the political system.”
“The problem with this is, not only half of the young people don’t want the mood, but they now have to stay at school until they are 18,” Farage said in a video shared with X. “The educational establishment is full of left-wing prejudice, is full of anti-return period, and frankly, if 16-year-olds are to make our education system to make our teaching system to suggest our educationystey. And not to make our own education to vote and is unable to make children, we are owned by our education.
The change still requires parliamentary approval, but was a campaign blade of the Labor Party, which won last year’s general elections and has a majority control. The following general elections are in 2029.
Rayner noted that 16 and 17-year-olds can already vote in Scotland and Wales in local elections and parliamentary elections at land level. The minimum voting age for local elections in England and North Ireland is 18.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Left, and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are holding a press conference during a visit to the Airbus factory in Stevenage, England, Thursday 17 July 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool via AP)
In an opinion piece in the British newspaper ‘The Times’, Rayner, who was a single mother at the age of 16, said that the change is 1.6 million 16 and 17 year olds eligible to vote in the UK, which has a population of around 68 million.
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“This is about honesty and transparency and giving the boy an interest in the future of our country, so that they are brought into our communities, do not exclude,” wrote Rayner. “It is about providing our manifesto to protect votes at the age of 16. But it is also about strengthening our election system so that it is suitable for the 21st century – because we cannot consider our democracy for granted.”
