Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next general election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday.
The centre-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, but not their national legislatures.
The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing 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 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.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
