Keir Starmer: Labour will give 16- and 17-year-olds right to vote

The prime minister has vowed to legislate to give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote, in line with Labour’s election manifesto commitment.

Dame Meg Hillier, the chair of the liaison committee of senior MPs, delivered a question Tuesday put together by members of the UK youth parliament.

She said: “They were highlighting the fact that the government promised in the manifesto to lower the voting age to 16…

“The commitment wasn’t included in the king’s speech, so they want to know prime minister, when might they see legislation coming forward on this issue?”

Keir Starmer told the committee: “We will definitely get it done. It’s a manifesto commitment. We intend to honour it. I think that if you’re old enough to go out to work, if you’re old enough to pay your taxes, then you are entitled to have a say on how your taxes are spent.

“And also, we do have voting at a younger age in different parts of the United Kingdom. The sky didn’t fall in, so it’s a commitment we made [and] it’s a commitment we intend to keep.”

The prime minister was also asked if he supported further “political education” in schools to prepare students for the responsibility of voting.

Starmer said: “I would term it as education about citizenship rather than sort of pure political indoctrination – but citizenship and how the state works, how you participate in it, what the institutions and structures are.

“I’m very pleased to see that that is part of the curriculum. I think it’s important that everybody learns about citizenship.”

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