Voting at 16 can make elections a habit
Sixteen and 17 year olds in Scotland have been able to vote in Holyrood and council elections for more than a decade. And thanks to last week's announcement by the UK Government, that will now be extended to Westminster elections too.
It's a logical move and fulfils a Labour election pledge, but UK-wide polls suggest nearly half voters oppose it, so the case will have to be made again.
Scotland introduced votes at 16 for the 2014 independence referendum and then extended it to Scottish Parliament and council elections.
The year after the referendum, a study found 16 and 17 year-olds in Scotland were more engaged with politics - researching issues, taking part in demonstrations, signing petitions and engaging with elected representatives - than people of the same age elsewhere in the UK.
Sadly, the effect did not seem to last. Research by Edinburgh University academics in the context of the last Scottish Parliament elections in 2021 concluded that the lowering of the voting age had not led to any long-term increase in political engagement among young people.
But what did last was an increased likelihood of turning out to vote. The research by Jan Eichhorn and Christine Hübner found those who first became entitled to vote at 16 were more likely to turn out at the 2021 election than those who were first able to vote at 18 or older.
And this applied not only to those who first got the vote at the referendum, but also those who became eligible at subsequent elections. The researchers say: "This suggests a lasting positive effect of being allowed to vote from 16 on young people’s voter turnout as they grow up."
Opponents will claim that at 16 people are not mature enough to vote. The same argument was made when the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1969.
Indeed, the Speaker's Conference, a cross-party body looking at election rules, recommended only reducing it to 20. But the Labour government had already accepted another committee's recommendations to lower the age of majority to 18, so decided the voting age should follow suit.
The latest change will bring England into line with Scotland and Wales, which also has votes at 16 for Senedd and council elections.
The next challenge is to increase citizenship education, give young people more opportunities for genuine engagement and show them it can make a difference.