Latest news with #electionreform
Fox News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
UK government to lower voting age to 16 before next national election despite strong conservative opposition
The United Kingdom is lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national elections – a move which opposition figures decry as a way to sway the electorate to benefit the left. The U.K. government, controlled by the Labour Party, announced Thursday that 16- and 17-year-olds will be given the right to vote as part of other new "seismic changes." Other election reforms include extending voter ID to bank cards, issuing new rules meant to "guard against foreign political interference and abuse of campaigners," and tightening laws restricting foreign donations to British political parties. In an accompanying policy paper included in the announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said that "declining trust in our institutions and democracy itself has become critical, but it is the responsibility of government to turn this around and renew our democracy, just as generations have done before us." "I think it's really important that 16- and 17-year-olds have the vote because they're old enough to go out to work, they're old enough to pay taxes, so to pay in. And I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters on Thursday. "I'm really pleased that we're able to bring more young people into our democracy." "Young people already contribute to society by working, paying taxes and serving in the military. It's only right they can have a say on the issues that affect them," Rayner wrote on X. The deputy prime minister also elaborated in a statement, adding: "We cannot take our democracy for granted, and by protecting our elections from abuse and boosting participation we will strengthen the foundations of our society for the future." The minimum age of service in the British Armed Forces is 16, but those under 18 need written consent from a parent or guardian and may not be deployed to combat zones. British opposition politicians accused the Labour Party of trying to manipulate the electorate in their favor by lowering the voting age. "Why does this government think a 16‑year‑old can vote but not be allowed to buy a lottery ticket or an alcoholic drink, marry or go to war, or even stand in the elections they're voting?" Member of Parliament (MP) Paul Holmes, a conservative, said in the House of Commons on Thursday. "Isn't the government's position on the age of maturity just hopelessly confused?" Holmes accused Labour of "governing by press release" and questioned whether allowing bank cards – which do not include photographs – as a form of voter ID will undermine security measures at the ballot box. Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK Party, said giving 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote "is an attempt to rig the political system." "The problem with this is, not only do half of youngsters not want the vote, but they have to stay at school now until they're 18," Farage said in a video shared to X. "The educational establishment is full of left-wing prejudice, is full of anti-reform bias, and frankly, if 16 to 18 year olds at school are going to be able to vote, we're going to have to make sure that our education system is teaching kids to make their own minds up and not indoctrinating them." The change still requires parliamentary approval but was a campaign promise by the Labour Party, which won last year's general election and holds majority control. The next general election is in 2029. Rayner noted that 16- and 17-year-olds can already vote in Scotland and Wales in local elections and country-level parliamentary elections. The minimum voting age for local elections in England and Northern Ireland is 18. In an opinion piece in the British newspaper "The Times," Rayner, who was a single mother at the age of 16, said the change makes 1.6 million 16- and 17-year-olds eligible to vote in the United Kingdom, which has a population of roughly 68 million. "This is about fairness and transparency and giving the young a stake in our country's future, bringing them into our communities, not excluding them," Rayner wrote. "It's about delivering on our manifesto to commitment to secure votes at 16. But it's also about strengthening our electoral system so that it is fit for the 21st century — because we cannot take our democracy for granted."
Reuters
5 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Evolution of the UK electorate from landowners to suffragettes to 16-year-old voters
LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday set out plans to lower the voting age to 16 in a landmark reform to the process that underpins one of the world's oldest parliaments. Who can currently vote? At present, anyone aged 18 or over can vote in UK general elections if they are a British citizen, a qualifying citizen from the Commonwealth group of former British colonies, or a citizen of Ireland, and are registered to vote. Members of the upper house of parliament and convicted prisoners serving a sentence are excluded from the franchise. When did parliament get elected representatives? In 1295, the English parliament, then made up of nobles and bishops, was extended to include elected representatives, setting the model for future parliaments. How was the electorate restricted? In the 15th century, the vote in England was restricted to men who owned freehold land worth at least 40 shillings, narrowing the electorate to wealthy landowners. The English and Scottish parliaments passed a law in 1707 uniting the two countries into one sovereign state called Great Britain. At this time, the right to vote was still severely restricted. About a century later, Ireland merged into Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. When was the first UK election? The first ever UK general elections ran from July 5 until August 14 in 1802. In 1832, the vote was extended to more men by a broadening of the property qualification, while parliamentary seats were redistributed to better represent rapidly growing towns and cities. But the legislation defined a voter as a male person, formally excluding women from voting in elections. Before that, there were occasional instances of women voting. When did women get the vote? Women were granted the right to vote in stages, starting in 1918 when women over the age of 30 who owned a property or were married to a property owner were given the right. All men over the age of 21 were also given the vote at this stage. Ten years later, the vote was finally extended to all women over the age of 21, before the age was lowered to 18 for both men and women in 1969. What earlier efforts were made to move the age under 18? A bill to reduce the voting age to 16 failed to pass due insufficient parliamentary support in 2008. Proposed legislation giving 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in Scottish parliamentary and local elections was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2015, broadening the electorate in Scotland's devolved administration. Four years later, the Welsh Parliament followed with a similar bill, marking the largest franchise extension in Wales since 1969. Which countries have lowered the age below 18? If the plan to lower the age to 16 is passed, Britain would be on par with Austria, Nicaragua, Argentina and Malta, according to U.S.-based research group World Population Review. The age is still 18 to vote in a national election in most major economies, from the United States and Germany in the west to China and India in the east. What were other notable reforms to the UK system? The state began cracking down on illegal practices, such as bribing, in the voting system as early as 1872, through the Secret Ballot Act, enabling people to vote in private without being intimidated into voting for a particular party. Before the turn of the century, attempts to bribe voters were criminalised, with more severe fines and in some cases imprisonment set as punishment. In 2022, Boris Johnson's government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo ID while voting to crack down on possible voter fraud.
CBS News
5 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Britain to lower voting age to 16 before next national election, government announces
London — Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday. The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain's Parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections. Britain will join a short list of countries where the voting age is 16, including Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament, but not their national legislatures. The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign finance rules to stop shell companies with unclear ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics. There will also be tougher sentences for people convicted of intimidating political candidates. Additionally, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government said it will introduce automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations. The previous Conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identification in 2022, a measure it said would combat fraud. Critics argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities. The law ironically caught out the man who had helped to usher it onto the books, when former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station last year after forgetting to bring his photo ID. Britain's elections watchdog agency, the Electoral Commission, estimates that about 750,000 people did not vote in last year's election because they lacked ID. Turnout in the 2024 election was 59.7%, the lowest level in more than two decades. Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of left-leaning think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the changes were "the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969," when the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21. The changes must be approved by Parliament, but Starmer's Labour Party currently holds an overwhelming majority of the seats, so it is likely to pass easily. The next national election must be held by 2029, but it could, theoretically, be called before that by the government. "For too long, public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline," Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said. "We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in U.K. democracy." Stuart Fox, a politics lecturer at the University of Exeter who has studied youth voting, said it's "far from clear" whether lowering the voting age actually increases youth engagement. "It is right to help young people be heard," he said. "But there are other measures which are more effective at getting young people to vote - particularly those from the poorest backgrounds who are by far the least likely to vote - such as beefing up the citizenship curriculum or expanding the provision of volunteering programs in schools."
SBS Australia
5 days ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
UK to lower voting age to 16 in landmark reform
The United Kingdom will now give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all elections in a major overhaul of its democratic system. The British government said the proposed changes, which are subject to parliamentary approval, would align voting rights across the UK with Scotland and Wales, where younger voters already take part in devolved elections. "We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy," Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said in a statement on Thursday. The decision comes after turnout at the 2024 general election fell to 59.7 per cent, the lowest at a general election since 2001, according to a parliamentary report. According to the House of Commons library, research from countries that have lowered the voting age to 16 shows it has had no impact on election outcomes, and 16-year-olds are more likely to vote than those first eligible at 18 An election promise Labour, whose popularity has fallen sharply in government after its landslide victory a year ago, had previously promised it would lower the voting age if elected. The reforms — if granted final approval — would also expand acceptable voter ID to include UK-issued bank cards and digital formats of existing IDs, such as driving licences and Veteran Cards. To tackle foreign interference, the government said it also planned to tighten rules on political donations, including checks on contributions from unincorporated associations and closing loopholes used by shell companies. In an interview with ITV News, Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the move for its inclusivity. "I think it's really important that 16 and 17-year-olds have the vote, because they are old enough to go out to work, they are old enough to pay taxes. "And I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go."
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy
Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday. The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain's Parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections. Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament. The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing rules to stop shell companies with murky ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics. There will also be tougher sentences for people convicted of intimidating candidates. Additionally, the government said it will introduce automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations. The previous Conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identification in 2022, a measure it said would combat fraud. Critics argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities. Elections watchdog the Electoral Commission estimates that about 750,000 people did not vote in last year's election because they lacked ID. Turnout in the 2024 election was 59.7%, the lowest level in more than two decades. Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of left-leaning think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the changes were 'the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969," when the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21. The changes must be approved by Parliament. The next national election must be held by 2029. 'For too long, public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline,' Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said. 'We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in U.K. democracy.' Stuart Fox, a politics lecturer at the University of Exeter who has studied youth voting, said it's 'far from clear' whether lowering the voting age actually increases youth engagement. 'It is right to help young people be heard,' he said. 'But there are other measures which are more effective at getting young people to vote — particularly those from the poorest backgrounds who are by far the least likely to vote — such as beefing up the citizenship curriculum or expanding the provision of volunteering programs in schools.'
