Voting: Citizenship commission to look at votes at 16
Mathew Little
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Government promised that the commission would open a "debate with young people" over whether a lower voting age would increase participation in the political process.
The Children's Rights Alliance for England enthusiastically welcomed the news. Carolyne Willow, its national co-ordinator, said: "The exclusion of 16- and 17-year-olds from the right to vote cannot be justified and clearly the new Prime Minister knows this. We will do all we can to support the new commission in its investigation."
Jonathan Pyke, co-ordinator of the Votes at 16 Campaign, said momentum is growing for lowering the vote age: "There has never been a better time to push for this."
Work and pensions secretary Peter Hain has said he is in favour of giving 16-year-olds the right to vote and fellow Cabinet members Harriet Harman and Hilary Benn signalled their support for the change during Labour's deputy leadership contest. It is also the official policy of the Liberal Democrats.
Alex Foulkes, the founder and former campaign manager of the Votes at 16 Campaign, said: "Support (for lowering the voting age) is close to a majority among MPs. When we ran early day motions we were getting more than 100 MPs signing. The problem was that the Prime Minister was not agreeable. But Gordon Brown is much more open to the idea."
The Youth Citizenship Commission will also aim to "invigorate" young people's understanding of what it means to be a British citizen and consider how citizenship education can be connected to a possible citizenship ceremony when young people reach adulthood.
Among a raft of other constitutional proposals, Brown also announced consultation with the House of Commons on whether the UK Youth Parliament should be invited to the Commons Chamber once a year on a non-sitting day. It is thought the 550 members of the youth parliament would be able to use the chamber for debates and to question MPs. Andy Hamflett, chief executive of the youth parliament, said the announcement was "fabulous news".
