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Will lowering the voting age help keep Labour in power?
The Independent
|July 18, 2025
In a slightly surprising move on one of the last few days before parliament’s long summer recess, the government has announced it wants to give 16- and 17-year-olds the vote.
This change was in the Labour manifesto, and Keir Starmer had expressed renewed support for it in April, telling a select committee: “I think that if you’re old enough to go out to work, if you're old enough to pay your taxes, then you are entitled to have a say on how your taxes are spent. And also, we do have voting at a younger age in different parts of the United Kingdom and the sky didn't fall in."
However, the policy wasn't in the King's Speech, which led some to doubt it would ever arrive. Looks like their time has arrived...
Does it need new legislation?
This story is from the July 18, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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