- Suggested changes are subject to parliamentary approval.
- Lowering voting rights to 16 does not affect election results.
- Study shows that 16-year-olds are more likely to vote than 18-year olds.
The British government announced on Thursday that it plans to give 16- and 17-year-old voting rights in all British elections and mark a greater revision of the country’s democratic system.
The government said that the proposed changes subject to parliamentary approval would adapt voting rights throughout the UK with Scotland and Wales, where younger voters are already participating in election elections.
“We are taking steps to break down barriers to participation that will ensure that more people have the opportunity to participate in British democracy,” Vice Prime Minister Angela Rayner said in a statement.
Participation in the 2024 parliamentary elections was 59.7%, the lowest in a parliamentary election since 2001, according to a parliamentary report.
According to the House of Commons Library, research from countries that have lowered voting rights to 16 shows that it has had no influence on the election results and that 16-year-olds were more likely to vote than the first justified at 1 p.m. 18.
Work, whose popularity has fallen sharply in government after being elected by a landslide a year ago, would have said it would lower the right to vote if elected.
The reforms will also extend acceptable voter ID to include UK issued bank cards and digital formats of existing IDs, such as driver’s license and veteran cards.
To tackle foreign interference, the government said it was also planning to tighten the rules of political donations, including control of contributions over £ 500 ($ 670) from non -link -corporated associations and closure of logging holes used by Shell companies.
