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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rowena Mason Whitehall editor

Lowering the voting age: a boost for UK democracy or a shot in the dark?

Democracy Scotland Sir Keir Starmer Wales
A young woman holds up her voter registration card outside a polling station in Scotland
Rebecca Wells, who was 16 at the time of the 2014 independence referendum in Scotland, arrives to cast her ballot. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Half a century since the national voting age was last lowered, Keir Starmer has decided the time is right to include more than a million 16- and 17-year-olds in democracy for the first time.

Like bringing in same-sex marriage, smoking bans or maternity leave, extending the franchise is a defining policy that will become part of this government’s permanent legacy for the country.

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