Campaign History

The British Youth Council’s report ‘State of the Young Nation’, surveys 1000 young people across the UK about their participation in society and their understanding of political processes. It reinforces BYC’s campaign for lowering the voting age to 16.

CRAE arranges meeting for young people from the British Youth Council, Children’s Express, the Office of the Children’s Rights Commissioner for London, the National Black Youth Forum and the UK Youth Parliament to discuss shared goals. The Young People’s Rights Network is subsequently established and Votes at 16 is top of their campaign list.

September | The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) publishes ‘The real democratic deficit. Why 16 year olds should be allowed to vote’. This can be read here.

4 July | It is announced that the Electoral Commission are going to review whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. The Commission on Local Government Electoral Arrangements in Wales – an independent review set up by the Welsh Cabinet – announces support of the lowering of the voting age to 16. Read more here.

19 April | The Electoral Commission recommends following a consultation that the UK’s minimum age for voting should stay at 18. However, the majority of the 7,500 responses it received to a consultation were in favour of lowering the voting age to 16. The Electoral Commission recommends that the minimum candidacy age should be lowered from 21 to 18.

9 March | SNP MP, Angus Robertson, calls for Parliament to vote for for the Government to legislate to reduce the voting age, rather than just note the Electoral Commission’s review. 346 MPs vote against this call, and 50 vote in favour. The debate can be read here.

19 April | Peers reject an amendment from Lord Livsey of Talgarth, Liberal Democrat Peer, to the Electoral Administration Bill that would extend the vote to 16 and 17 year olds (43 votes in favour; 218 against.) Read the debate here.

27 February | The Power Inquiry, chaired by Labour Peer Helena Kennedy QC, recommends extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year-olds. Read the full report here.

January | 80 young people make the case for Votes at 16 when meeting the Minister for Women and Equality, then Harriet Harman MP, and other MPs in Parliament.

20 October | 16 and 17 year-olds vote in Jersey for the first time. Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams puts forward an Early Day Motion (a motion to raise an issue in the House of Commons) on Votes at 16 in reaction. It achieves 28 signatures. Read the news article here.

28 September | Austria makes history, as the first national in the European Union to implement Votes at 16, as 16 and 17 year olds vote in national elections.

13 June | The Scottish Government has called for the voting age to be lowered to 16 and demanded the powers from Westminster to implement the change in Scotland, and announces that they will introduce a Bill that will allow 16 and 17 year olds to be full members of local health boards. Read the news article here.

8 June | The Labour MP, Julie Morgan, introduces a Private Member’s Bill, the Voting Age Reduction Bill. This is discussed in the House of Commons but MPs ran out of time to vote on whether they favoured Votes at 16. This was due to MPs ‘talking out the Bill’ by preferring to discuss issues around Votes at 16 rather than vote on it. Read the news article here.

29 February | The UK Government announces a Youth Citizenship Commission that focus on young people aged 11 to 19. The Commission is tasked with examining what citizenship means to young people, considering how to increase young people’s participation in politics and the development of citizenship among disadvantaged groups, and thinking how active citizenship can be promoted through volunteering and community engagement. The Commission is also asked to lead a consultation on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.

7 February | The Welsh Assembly passed a vote in favour of votes at 16 by a margin of 44 to 4, with 3 absentions. This motion was put forward by Kirsty Williams AM (Brecon and Radnorshire), Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. However, the Assembly has no power to bring the policy into effect as this is a power of the UK Parliament.

14 December | Peers speak warmly in favour of Votes at 16 in a debate about the referendum on whether to change the voting system. Read the news article here.

19 October | Almost 200 opposition MPs vote in favour of 16 and 17 year olds being allowed to vote in the referendum on whether to change the voting system to the AV [alternative vote] system. This is the first time large numbers of Labour MPs have voted in support of 16 and 17 year olds having voting rights. Read the news article here.

April | The Liberal Democrats confirm in their General Election manifesto their policy to extend right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds, which has been reiterated since 2001 (read here – see page 88). The Labour Party says it will give a free vote to MPs on the matter (when MPs don’t have to follow the party line on an issue) but only following improved citizenship education. Read the news article here.

18th December | Julie Elliot MP secured a debate in Westminster Hall on votes for 16 and 17 year-olds. Ms Elliott said that the Scottish Government’s proposal to extend the franchise for the referendum on Scottish independence to 16 and 17 year-olds had ‘reignited the issue of votes at 16 at a national level.’

She continued:

With that in mind, it seems the right time to reconsider lowering the voting age to 16 in all elections and referendums held in the UK.

7th November | The Northern Ireland Assembly joins Scotland and Wales in sending clear message to Westminster that the voting age should be lowered. 51 MLAs backed a notion proposed by Megan Fearon of Sinn Fein – Stormont’s youngest member – and the Green Party’s Stephen Agnew, with both nationalist parties, the Ulster Unionists and the Alliance, amongst those in favour.

1st November | Argentina joins a (slowly but surely) growing list of Countries to extend the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds. The bill passed with an overwhelming majority of 131 to two.

22nd October | Following the Scottish agreement Lord Tyler announces The Voting Age (Comprehensive Reduction) Bill which would extend the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds in all elections and referenda in the United Kingdom. He argues that “It isn’t good enough for Scots young people to be heard, just once, on this vital question, and then ignored thereafter, and worse still that English, Welsh and Northern Irish young people will continue not having a say at all.”

15th October | David Cameron and Alex Salmond sign a deal that will not only see Scotland vote on its independence but will also extend the right to vote on this issue to 16 and 17 year olds. The hope for Votes at 16 supporters is that this paves the way for 16 and 17 year olds to vote in all future elections and referendums.

4th July | The Welsh Assembly demonstrated their support for Votes at 16 by voting in favour of lowering the voting age. Although the assembly has no powers to change the law, AMs in favour of votes at 16 say the institution should send a positive message about young people’s involvement in the democratic process.

25th January | The Scottish Government launched a consultation ‘Your Scotland, Your referendum’ to find out what people think the ballot paper for the Scottish referendum should say, and also who should be able to vote in this referendum. Question 7 is on votes at 16: “What are your views on extending the franchise to those aged 16 and 17 years who are eligible to be registered on the electoral register?”

15th December | Prime Minister David Cameron agrees to give the Scottish Parliament the power to lower the voting age in time for the 2016 election. The process of transferring the power to set the voting age in Scottish Parliament elections is in process.

11th November | Liberal Democrat Peers (led by Lord Tyler) moved amendments at the Committee Stage of the Wales Bill, arguing both for Votes at 16 in Welsh Assembly elections and in any referendum on tax-raising powers.

5th November | The Youth Select Committee (YSC) launched a report on ‘Lowering the Voting Age to 16’. The enquiry, conducted by a mixture of young leaders and elected representatives, considered both written and oral evidence over a 6 month period and concluded that the right to vote should be extended to those aged 16 and 17. The Youth Select Committee (YSC) is a British Youth Council initiative, supported by the House of Commons.

18th September | In Scotland, 16 and 17-year-olds voted in the Scottish Independence referendum, marking the first time the vote has been extended to 16- and 17-year-olds in the UK. The Scottish Independence Referendum saw 80% of 16 and 17 year olds register to vote and 75% turnout to vote.

EU Referendum Act 2015-16

There were attempts to amend this Bill to extend the franchise for the EU Referendum to include 16 and 17 year-olds.

18th November 2015 - Labour and Liberal Democrat peers joined forces to back Votes at 16 in the EU referendum Bill. An amendment led by Baroness Morgan of Ely, Lord Tyler, Lord Hannay of Chiswick and Lord Tugendhat for Votes at 16 was been accepted in the EU Referendum Bill. Peers defied the House of Commons when 293 Lords voted in favour of the amendment and 211 voted against it. The decision would later be overturned in December 2015, when the Bill returned to the House of Lords in the Ping Pong.

11 September 2015 - The Votes at 16 Private Member’s Bill, proposed by Vicky Foxcroft MP, had its second reading in the House of Commons.

July 2015 - Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, Dame Rosemary Butler AM, launched a report where more than half of young people in Wales said they wanted the voting age lowered to 16. The #Vote16Wales consultation received more than 10,000 responses from 11 to 25-year-olds across Wales – the biggest ever response to an Assembly consultation.

15th July 2015 - An amendment led by Lord Tyler for ‪Votes at 16 was approved in the Cities and Devolution Bill. 221 Lords voted yes and 154 voted no. This was later voted down in the House of Commons.

18 June 2015 - With Cross-Party support on the Votes at 16, Members of Scottish Parliament unanimously voted to ensure 16 and 17-year olds now have permanent voice on all issues. The Scottish Elections (Reduction of Voting Age) Bill will lower the voting age to 16 from spring 2016 onwards for Scottish Parliament and local government elections 

June 2015 - MPs showed their support for the Votes at 16 Campaign by attending a photo call on the College Green. You can view the pictures here

Representation of the People (Young People’s Enfranchisement) Bill 2017-19

This Bill was sponsored by Peter Kyle (Labour), aiming to reduce the voting age to 16 in Parliamentary and other elections, and auto-enrol 16-24 year-olds onto the electoral register, amongst other things. The Bill failed to progress to second reading.