Should 16-year-olds have the vote?

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival 2025 at Church House and the Abbey Centre, Westminster, on Saturday 18 October.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

Under plans being drawn up by the Labour government, anyone over the age of 16 will be allowed to vote in the next UK General Election. According to Keir Starmer, ‘seismic’ change is necessary to ensure young people’s voices are heard. Do you agree?

There are longstanding arguments for and against lowering the voting age. However, critics claim Labour is motivated by partisan advantage, as age has become the biggest demographic divide in British politics, with younger people being more likely to vote Labour.

Opponents argue 16-year-olds are not allowed to drink alcohol unsupervised, get a tattoo, consume pornography, watch explicit films, play violent video games or even lie on a sunbed. Most importantly, anyone under the age of 18 must be in some form of education or training, even if they also work. If they are treated like children in these instances, is it not inconsistent and hypocritical to treat them as adults when it comes to voting?

In contrast, supporters of lowering the voting age argue that 16 is the same age at which you can legally marry, have sex, join the army, leave home and pay taxes. In the German federal states, Austria, Argentina and Brazil, research shows 16- to 18-year-olds are highly engaged and turn out in higher numbers than 18- to 20-year-olds.

Will lowering the voting age to 16 disproportionately benefit Labour and Greens as some suggest or is the answer far from clear? Evidence from recent elections in Austria and Brazil indicate young people voted quite similarly to other age groups. In recent EU elections in Germany, the right-wing AfD did very well among 16- to 24-year-olds. Likewise, in France, young voters turned out in large numbers for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally.

What it is to be a citizen and an adult in 2025? What are the political and philosophical arguments for lowering the voting age? What is motivating the government to lower the voting age? Would you trust 16-year-olds with the vote?

SPEAKERS
Isobel Elkan
16-year-old A-level student

Kevin Meagher
commentator; associate editor, Labour Uncut; author, A United Ireland: Why unification is inevitable and how it will come about; former ministerial special adviser, Labour

Fraser Myers
deputy editor, spiked; host, the spiked podcast

Tallulah Sutton
sociology and politics researcher; University of Cambridge; author, Labour Heartlands in Brexit Britain

CHAIR
Kevin Rooney
religion, philosophy and ethics teacher; editor, irishborderpoll.com; convenor, AoI Education Forum; co-author, The Blood Stained Poppy