London – Britain will be reduced to the age of 18 to 16 from the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced on Thursday. The Center-Left Labor Party had already pledged Elected in July 2024 UK’s Parliament reducing the age of voting for elections. Scotland and Wales already voted 16– and 17 years old children in local and regional elections.
Britain will include a small list of countries where the voting age is 16, including Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16 -year -old children to vote in the Election, but not their national assemblies.
The step comes with comprehensive reforms that involve tightening the campaign finance rules to prevent shell companies with vague ownership by donating to political parties to Shell companies. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said that change will strengthen security measures against foreign intervention in British politics. There will also be difficult sentences for those guilty of intimidating political candidates.
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moreover, Prime Minister Kir StamorThe government said that it would present automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as an identity at polling stations.
The previous conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identity in 2022, a measure said that the fraud would compete. Critics argued that it could dismiss millions of voters, especially young, poor and members of ethnic minorities. The law crashed the person with irony, who helped the former Prime Minister enter the books. Boris Johnson was removed After forgetting to bring your photo ID from your local polling station last year.
The UK election Watchdog Agency, Election Commission, estimates that around 750,000 people did not vote in last year’s election as they were short of ID.
Voting in 2024 elections was 59.7%, the lowest level of more than two decades.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of the Left-Caning Think Tank The Institute for Public Policy Research, said the change was “the biggest improvement in our electoral system since 1969” when the age of voting was 21 to 18.
Changes should be approved by Parliament, but the labor party of the stormer is currently a large part of the seats, so it is likely to pass easily. The next national election should be held by 2029, but theoretically, it can be called before that by the government.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rener said, “For a long time, public confidence in our democracy has been damaged and confidence in our institutions has been allowed to decline.” “We are taking action to break the obstacles for participation that will ensure that more people get an opportunity to engage in Britain’s democracy.”
Stuart Fox, a politics lecturer at the University of Exeter, who has studied young voting, said it is “clear from clear” whether reducing the age of voting actually increases young engagement.
“It’s true to help the youth listen,” he said. “But there are other measures that are more effective to vote for young people – especially from the poorest background that is the least likely to vote – such as increasing citizenship course or expanding the provision of volunteering programs in schools.”
