<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="http://9news.com.au/uk" rel="" target="" title="Britain"><span>Britain</span></a><span> will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/uk-election" rel="" target="" title="election"><span>election</span></a><span> as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government has announced.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain's parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European parliament.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/james-nowland-death-australian-base-jumper-dies-in-italian-dolomites-accident/32d0c86d-86b0-42e6-952e-ce3254c164f9"><strong><span>Australian BASE jumper dies in Italian jump gone wrong</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Thursday's move came alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing rules to stop shell companies with murky ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There will also be tougher sentences for people convicted of intimidating candidates.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Additionally, the government said it will introduce automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/britain-will-lower-its-voting-age-to-16-in-bid-to-strengthen-democracy/d2ecb200-b2ae-4f0c-95e6-f8bd68cc1663" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The previous Conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identification in 2022, a measure it said would combat fraud. Critics argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Elections watchdog the Electoral Commission estimates that about 750,000 people did not vote in last year's election because they lacked ID.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Turnout in the 2024 election was 59.7 per cent, the lowest level in more than two decades.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/man-found-dead-on-tonkin-highway-after-suspected-hit-run-in-perth/c5ab4900-467f-40ed-82fb-730ef1703dec"><strong><span>Woman questioned after man found dead on highway</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/clive-palmers-united-australia-party-data-breach/85feaf54-f525-40c6-ae2c-f02fdc7db9d9" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Clive Palmer's grim update for supporters</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of left-leaning think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the changes were "the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969" when the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The changes must be approved by parliament. The next national election must be held by 2029.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"For too long, public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline," Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Stuart Fox, a politics lecturer at the University of Exeter who has studied youth voting, said it's "far from clear" whether lowering the voting age actually increases youth engagement.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It is right to help young people be heard," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But there are other measures which are more effective at getting young people to vote — particularly those from the poorest backgrounds who are by far the least likely to vote — such as beefing up the citizenship curriculum or expanding the provision of volunteering programs in schools."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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