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Louise Thomas
Editor
Sir Keir Starmer has admitted that 16 and 17-year-olds in England hoping to get the vote in next year’s local elections will be forced to wait.
The Labour leader had made reducing the voting age in England to 16 a key promise in his manifesto amid claims by Tories that he as trying to rig future elections and bring politics to the classroom.
But with elections next year in 21 English councils as well as the new regional mayors of Hull and East Yorkshire, and Greater Lincolnshire, Sir Keir has admitted he is not in a hurry to change the rules.
He told journalists travelling with him to the Nato summit in Washington DC that the change was not a priority.
Asked about the reform, Sir Keir said: “You’ll have to wait for the King’s Speech for that. But I’ve got a number of priorities as we come into government and they are around my missions and economic growth is the number one.
“So in ordering my priorities and the work that I need to get done, it’s very much focused on economic growth, which is why the chancellor (Rachel Reeves) was out with such a strong speech and set of decisions frankly on Monday.
“More in the King’s Speech but just to give you a sense, my priority is absolutely economic growth and everything will be focused on that in the early days.”
If the law was changed then Starmer’s own son would technically be old enough to get the vote next year at the age of 17 although his first vote would not be until a year later in the London borough elections when he would be 18 anyway.
Previously, Sir Keir had explained that he believed the change was necessary because 16-year-olds are able to get married, join the army and have to pay income tax.
The plan had sparked a debate during the election among those claiming he was making the change to increase the younger vote which is more inclined to vote Labour.
However, supporters of bringing down the voting age have argued that teenagers are more likely to vote at 16 than they are if they wait til 18 and that then sets a habit of election engagement.
The need to improve democratic engagement among younger voters was highlighted in polling carried out by Techne for The Independent which revealed that 40 per cent of all 18 to 34-year-olds had decided before polling day not to vote.
With an overall turnout of 60 per cent in all age groups in the general election it is believed that a higher proportion than the initial 40 per cent on non-voters among 18 to 34-year-olds did not vote.
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