The UK Government has announced it will propose legislation to lower the voting age to 16 for all elections.
The policy was part of the Labour Party’s successful election campaign last year.
The plan is for the new voting age to come into effect by the next election, which is in 2029.
Here’s what you need to know.
Announcement
The UK Government’s plan is to lower the voting age to 16, down from 18, for all elections.
In a policy paper marking the announcement, the Government said this decision is “just the start of successfully engaging young people in our democracy”.
It will also allow registration from age 14, for people to prepare to vote by the time they’re 16.
Part of the plan is to eventually create an automated registration system.
In an introduction to the policy paper announcing the new voting age, the Government said “declining turnout and low voter registration numbers show that many have lost confidence that they are being listened to.”
Unlike Australia, voting in the UK is not compulsory.
At the last general election in 2024, about 60% of eligible voters turned up to polls.
This was the lowest turnout since 2001, and was around 8% lower than the previous general election.
Opposition
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The opposition Conservative Party is against the proposal.
Senior Conservative MP Paul Holmes said: “Why does this government think a 16-year-old can vote, but not be allowed to buy a lottery ticket, an alcoholic drink, marry, or go to war, or even [run] in the elections they’re voting in?”
He continued: “Isn’t the Government’s position on the age of majority just hopelessly confused?”
Labour has a majority in the lower house, but not in the non-elected upper house (the House of Lords).
Australia
The voting age in Australia is 18.
Over the years, several non-Government MPs have attempted to change that.
For example, in 2023, then Greens-MP Stephen Bates introduced a bill to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to be eligible to vote.
Bates said at the time that lowering the voting age would give “young people the opportunity to have a real say over the politics and policies that will impact them for the rest of their lives”.
The bill did not gain the support of the Government or the Opposition at the time.
TDA asked the then-Youth Minister Anne Aly why the Government did not support the bill.
Aly said: “When I go out and talk with young people, lowering the voting age is not one of the top five issues that comes up.”
She added: “It’s not a priority for us because it’s not a priority that young people have said they want us to focus on.”
