The British government has unveiled plans to reduce the national voting age to 16, marking a historic shift that would make the UK one of the few countries globally to adopt such a low voting threshold.
The announcement comes as part of a broader push by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour administration to overhaul the electoral process—a key campaign promise made before securing victory in last year’s general election.
Starmer speaks
“This is about fairness,” Starmer said on Thursday. “If 16- and 17-year-olds are old enough to work and pay taxes, then they should also have a say in how their money is spent and which direction the government takes.”
The proposed legislation will be introduced in Parliament, where Labour holds a strong majority. However, the move is expected to stir political controversy. Critics argue the change could be politically motivated, as younger voters are often more inclined to support Labour.
Still, Labour insists the reform is aimed at revitalising democratic engagement and modernising the system. The current plan also includes automated voter registration—already in place in countries like Australia and Canada—and expanding acceptable forms of voter ID to include UK-issued bank cards.
These changes would reverse parts of the previous Conservative government’s electoral law that required photo identification to vote. According to the Electoral Commission, that policy prevented an estimated 750,000 people from casting their ballots in last year’s election.
The UK currently joins a small group of nations—including Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Ecuador—that permit 16-year-olds to vote in national elections. Austria was the first EU country to lower the voting age to 16 in 2007.
Labour ministers also point out that 16-year-olds are already allowed to vote in Scotland and Wales for regional parliamentary elections, making this change a step toward consistency across the UK.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, called the reform “the most significant change to our electoral system since 1969,” when the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18.
He estimated that lowering the age and adopting automatic registration could add up to 9.5 million new voters. “Our democracy is in crisis,” Quilter-Pinner warned. “Without action, we risk reaching a point where people stop believing in the legitimacy of politics itself.”
