Prime Minister voices support for lowering voting age to 16

Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons Liaison Committee, Gordon Brown said that if schools were teaching citizenship to a high standard and 16-year-olds could "assume their British citizenship in a formal way" this would pave the way to lowering the voting age to 16. He said: "If we are going to have reform like this we need to make sure that citizenship education is good."

Brown said he thought most 16-year-olds were mature enough to vote, and that young people today were "more knowledgeable, more able to find out what is going on, and more informed". He said there would be a wide consultation before lowering the voting age.

The Youth Citizenship Commission was set up to consult on lowering the voting age but its final report published last June failed to make a recommendation one way or another.

The British Youth Council’s vice-chair Jack Rowley said: "British Youth Council welcomes the Prime Minister's commitment to lowering the voting age to 16 as part of a wider package of necessary electoral reform to encourage engagement with the political process.

"Contrary to the Youth Citizenship Commission’s lack of a recommendation on the issue of lowering the voting age, we are delighted that the PM’s support is so clear."

Votes at 16 is one of five demands in the British Youth Council General Election Manifesto, which it will launch on 15 February.