16 & 17 year olds to be given the vote

[Whereishenow]

Just seen this announcement on BBC now. Amazing news!!! Now we just need to try and get youngsters out USING those votes.

And yet the only 'manipulating' I see is by right-wingers.

I do hope another party is prepared to stand up and fight against the political smearing and blatant propaganda that is bought and paid for, mostly via Russian bot factories, to sway public opinion/voting.

Trump did it, Boris did it, Reform are doing it.

SM is awash with outright lies, designed to stoke the fears of a 'certain' element of the population and it needs dealing with.

NOBODY, whatever their political leanings, should be manipulated and lied to.

We are not their toys to play with for their own gain.

Id rather people didn't vote until they were 30 and have learned about the world but that's obviously not feasible. 18 was a reasonable cut off. 16 is just too young.

There is no jeopardy for a 16 year old in getting the wrong party in, for adults we suffer higher taxes, higher mortgages and all the bills we have to pay.

The principle of American independence was no taxation without representation - it would be good if that was reversed - no representation without taxation. Too few people are net taxpayers and too many are subsidized by the state it skews elections and it's happening again.

16 years old is too young to vote.

@LaurieFairyCake thanks

What is it with Labour and legislating on major issues which were not part of their manifesto?

Too few people are net taxpayers and too many are subsidized by the state it skews elections and it's happening again.

So pensioners can't vote?

Is that all, I thought it was a few more than that but still quite low

Maybe it will give parties a reason to think of youngsters in the decisions. At the moment there is a whole group of twenty somethings who can’t move out of home due to cost of housing unless they have help from parents or an inheritance.

Without being flippant, if there are boys and young men around you who feel like they're "demonised" for being male then it sounds like they've been engaging with far too much Andrw Tte nonsense online. Because that "pushback" is better known as incel culture and it's in part responsible for the rise of violence against women and girls and overt misogyny online.

If 16 and 17 year olds are considered adult enough to join the army they should be allowed to vote. Thats the thing about democracies everyone should get a say.

Maybe see if you can edit your post?

The move to 16/17yo's was in Labours manifesto....... so they have the mandate to do this and people shouldn't complain, it was known about prior to July 2024.

16 is terribly young .Not able to drive or drink Alcohol .How many will even bother I wonder ? Historically youngsters have usually voted left wing ,But I have a worried feeling Nigel will be wooing them.Also they may be swayed by their parents .An all round bad idea I think

Again, both of these are examples of not joined up policy. The reason you can point them out is because the whole thing is a mess.

The solution to not having joined up policy is not to alter various bits of it to suit your own purposes in gerrymandering elections and media exposure.

The solution is to make it all consistent, for proper evidence based and well thought out reasons. Not to say we fancy a few more votes so we are going to tinker with this bit of it under the guise of being more fair.

This is so patronising and ageist. I could just as easily say "if its not been written in the Daily Mail most pensioners I know won't be interested"

It was supposed to be somewhat tongue in cheek, but I should probably know better than to try that on here.

Of course they're not MATURE enough. They're children - who are still at school!

This has literally only been done because Labour think these children will vote for them. As I said, the majority of them have said they won't vote anyway as they know fuck-all about what they're voting for.

I'm sure you (and everyone in your social circle) were married at 16, with 2 kids by 18, and a mortgage by 19, and were 'wise beyound your years....' 🙄 But MOST 16 year olds have very little knowledge about life issues, and problems, economics, politics, recessions. world famine, war, problems the elderly and disabled face, bereavement, how women are kept down in the workplace and have to fight constantly to be heard and recognised, and about paying bills and mortgages!

To say a 16 year old should be allowed to vote is beyond farcical. Anyone agreeing with this needs to give their head a good wobble!

True though. (What 'gaspanic' said!)

You mentioned jury service...... the reason its limited to 75 is precisely because as you age, you will almost certainly suffer some cognitive impairment.

If all young people are considered not to have the mental skills to vote, then the same should apply to older people too......

I can point them out because it blows a hole in the argument that young people shouldn't vote due to some sort of mental deficiency, which vanishes when they become 18yo.

It depends on the tax system. If we had system like the ones in Belgium/France/Holland/Spain/Portugal etc where lower and middle income citizens paid a higher proportion of tax then most people would be net taxpayers.

Shameless and blatant gerrymandering. If we make education or training compulsory until the age of 18- because you have't yet learned enough to function fully in society without a little more support you shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Except in the very rarest of cases they don't pay tax- why on earth should they have an input into how tax revenues are spent.

The 13-16 year olds I know would vote Reform.
They hate Starmer and think the Tories have done so much damage any new party who haven't had a go should get the chance on the grounds that anything is better than those two parties.

I mean, they make a reasonably good point there… (no, I didn’t vote Reform)

It’s ridiculous. They obviously think it’ll get them more votes. The kids will just vote for who their parents vote for. I did at 18 as I had no clue about politics

Would you also take the vote away from over 18s that don’t pay tax?

I'm sure you (and everyone in your social circle) were married at 16, with 2 kids by 18, and a mortgage by 19, and were 'wise beyound your years....'

Loads of posters on threads about house prices vs wages now vs then argue that they were working at 15 & keeping house at 18 & that's why they could afford it....

This. The age should be raised to 21. There is a HUGE difference between a 16 y.o. and a 21 y.o. A 16 y.o. is a child FGS.

There is little evidence younger people would vote Labour, Reform score highly and it was in their manifesto to lower the voting age......