The Thinking ‘Kat: Voting Age
Today, the government announced the voting age will be lowered for the next General Election, with 16 and 17 year-olds being able to cast their ballots. This follows through with a pledge made during the last election campaign. Whilst Keir Starmer’s government is letting down the very people they are supposed to represent in so many ways, this is a good pledge to honour, though I can imagine there will be resistance to it.
Currently, the trend for older generations is to vote for conservative, right-wing parties. See the below chart:
Find more statistics at Statista
Younger people have a preference for left-wing (or ostensibly left-wing, like Labour) parties. It would thus seem that opening the floor up to 16 and 17 year-olds will see a greater pool of voters favouring Labour and the Lib Dems. More importantly, it gives young people more of a voice over their futures. The present trend is for those who are older to vote for policies and parties that won’t have much of an impact on them, but will affect the lives of younger generations. Brexit is a prime example of this, with a lot of people from older generations voting for it, despite not having to face the long-term consequences of it.
I can hear the squeals from the right already. ‘They’re kids, they’re too young to understand what they want and what they vote for!’ Well, they’re old enough to go to work, old enough to get married in some circumstances, and old enough (at 17) to be trusted to drive. They’re old enough to start paying taxes and National Insurance. They’re impacted by political and economic decisions. Does this not give them the right to a voice?
Some people argue there is a disconnect between not permitting 16 year-olds to stand as MPs (you must be 18 for that), but I see no issue here. There is a broad difference between voting, and taking on responsibility for running a constituency. What I see is an effort to give a voice to people whose futures are more at risk by government decisions.
Could it backfire? Of course! We might see a rise in efforts from right-wing populists like Farage to court young, impressionable minds. However, as per the chart above, it seems like as a rule, Britain’s youth have a preference for compassion and equality.
Some of the most politically active people I met were my fellow university students. My cohort included future political party senior figures who had started out in the youth groups of their respective parties. They were almost all centrist or left wing. Back when the Lib Dems were still centre-left, their representatives were joined on rallies and leafleting missions by Labour, Green and Socialist student representatives, and it was routine for them to heckle any right wing politicians who deemed it appropriate to attend a university building for any reason.
I can’t see any student burdened with debt on graduation thinking that voting right wing would do them any good. There were enough of us back then protesting against the poll tax, never mind thinking of having to pay for tuition.
I think my generation may not repeat the shift rightwards as seen in your metric above. We have not benefited from capitalism in the same way as those who were middle-management when Thatcher came to power. My parents, established in their careers, did very well from the early years of Tory rule, but I graduated at a time when the recession had begun to bite and HR departments preferred experience over qualifications. I was told on more than one occasion that I had wasted three years of my life at uni, when in fact it had provided me with a much wider education than any academic course could.
I’m all for letting 16 and 17 year olds vote. It’s time politics was taken seriously by everyone of working age, and not left to the “elites” to run.