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UK to lower voting age to 16
(www.bbc.co.uk)
*Sounds of Nigel Farage scrambling to make a Tik Tok account*
He's actually already the most popular politician on TikTok.
Yeah, considering how good right wing influencers are at, well, influencing young people, this may not be good news.
Given that in the 2024 election the two most left wing groups (lab+lib+green voting) were 18-24 women followed by 18-24 men, probably not.
Yeah this is a real jackpot for certain type of right wingers
I'm in favour of this, however it's only a fraction of what needs to be done to overhaul our voting system. We need to get rid of FPTP and reform the lords.
To me this is tinkering with the edges of a broken system. How about some proper voting reform?
The public rejected that at referendum.
A generation ago.
How about an actual referendum on whether or not we need a better system rather than "do you want this plaster putting on it?"
Single transferable vote is not a solution to the first past the post problem. It's literally the same system with a minor fix which won't really result in any change since we effectively live in a two-party system anyway.
It was AV in the referendum not STV
the next generation has been deemed reactionary enough to vote
If you can die for your country, you should be able to vote Edit: afterthought and more importantly, we're happy to tax them too.
I've always found it silly that one could legally have sex with their MP, but not vote for them
Weirdly, you can only die for your country with parental consent if you're under 18.
No, you can’t. Under-18s are banned from theatres of combat, as the UK has ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. A few 17yo were accidentally deployed to Iraq, but sent home within 3 weeks.
This feels like a big shift for it actually to happen, but I think it's the right decision overall.
The idea that 16 legally a person can (with some caveats) live independently in their own home and raise a family, and pay all the relevant tax along the way, but not have their say in elections has always seemed incongruous to me. It's the young who feel the political outcomes the longest after all.
How many young people will actually turn out is another question politically though.
Haha. They're changing the voting age. Not your ability to have a tattoo, cigarettes or get married without your parents consent or hundreds of other things.
It's about keeping power. Not about helping you or me as citizens.
So that’s Farage a lock for PM then.
Young people are becoming more right-leaning, but they still trend left/"left" IIRC. This shouldn't be a boon to Farage, though it also won't hurt him nearly as much as it would even a few years ago.
Lots of people witter on about young men becoming right wing in the UK like we're America, in reality young men were the second most left wing demographic after young women in the last election.
Younger people still trend left, but they also may trend lefter than Labour. Which could mean more splitting of the overall vote and more unpredictability with our FPTP system.
Anticipating the change, The Scum polled 16/17yo at the last election. Reform came 2nd behind Labour overall, but joint first amongst males. The Tories came last overall, with greens last among males.
So those who voted on the right were mostly 16-18?
Got it.
Young people typically vote liberal side.
The liberals haven’t been relevant since the coalition.
Long time coming
So you're saying that my man Niko has a chance?
This is a good thing, I think other countries should follow if they haven't already.
Like, they aren't lowering the age of consent, just the voting age. I think 16 year olds are more capable of voting responsibly than people think.
Age of consent is already 16 in the UK.
I don't think there should be a voting age at all. Also think that prisoners should be entitled to vote.
Basically, I think everyone who is a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen living in the UK should be able to vote.
I wouldn't be too opposed to other nationalities with Indefinite Leave to Remain voting either. Especially for council elections.
So toddlers? Manifesto promises for free sweeties allowance and later bedtimes?
If a toddler is capable of being registered to vote, going into a polling station, marking a ballot according to their own free will and putting it into the box, then they should be able to vote.
Also, free sweeties and later bedtimes are better manifesto promises than making the rich richer and the poor poorer
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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