Young people in Britain disproportionately vote for the Labour Party, while the elderly provide much of the votes for the opposition Conservative Party. So Britain’s Labour-controlled government is lowering the voting age to 16. “The British government said on Thursday it planned to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all UK elections in a major overhaul of the country’s democratic system. The government said the proposed changes, which are subject to parliament approvals, would align voting rights across the UK with Scotland and Wales, where younger voters already participate in devolved elections,” reports CNN.
In the 2024 election, voters aged 18-24 voted for Labour by a huge margin, giving Labour 41% of their votes, and just 8% of their votes to the Conservatives. Voters over age 70 voted for the Conservatives by a big margin, with 46% of them voting for the Conservatives, and only 20% of them voting for Labour.
So from the ruling Labour Party’s perspective, the more younger voters, the better.
In Italy, until 2023, people could not vote for members of the upper house of Parliament until they reached age 25. But in the 2023 election, that was lowered to age 18.
