Labour MPs are urging Sir Keir Starmer to shelve plans to lower the voting age to 16 at general elections amid fears that it will hand votes to the Green Party. They are calling for the Prime Minister to realise it would be 'total madness' to press ahead with the measure now, as Zack Polanski's party is surging in popularity among younger voters.
Internal Concerns Grow
Instead, Labour backbenchers are privately suggesting that 16 and 17-year-olds should only get the right from 2030 - safely after the next general election, expected in 2029. One senior MP told The Mail on Sunday: 'With the way opinion polls are going, it would be total madness to bring this in before 2029.' He appealed to Local Government Secretary Steve Reed, who is overseeing the reform, to realise that 'otherwise, we're just giving Zack Polanski and the Greens more votes'.
Electoral Calculus Shift
When the plans were first set out last year, Labour faced claims of trying to rig future elections on the grounds that younger people tended to vote for them over the Tories. But one survey appeared to show that the Greens, a threat in some Labour-held constituencies, could benefit even more. An ITV Youth Tracker poll by Savanta published last November showed support for Labour among 18 to 25-year-olds had collapsed from 43 per cent in March last year to just 25 per cent. Backing for the Greens had soared from 16 to 32 per cent.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp suggested Labour MPs were only having second thoughts now because 'it's set to blow up in their face as this cohort is more likely to end up voting Green'. He accused them of 'a cynical political ploy' and reaffirmed that Tory MPs would vote against lowering the voting age.
Labour's Internal Debate
On Saturday, a senior Labour source confessed that he was 'sympathetic' to the idea of postponing the change. But he insisted that the plan to make it effective for 2029 would go ahead, adding there were 'so few' of this new voting age group that it would not change the outcome of the next general election. That's despite Labour's manifesto saying it would 'increase the engagement of young people in our vibrant democracy'.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said the change 'will be delivered during this Parliament, and will encourage democratic participation and delivers on a manifesto commitment'.
Green Party Response
However, despite the apparent help from the voting age reform, the Greens have branded Mr Reed the embodiment of the 'self-serving and out-of-touch culture voters associate with Labour'. A leaked Green Party internal memo accused Mr Reed of 'sending out dossiers to smear Green voters as extremists' and anti-Semites but said it had 'commissioned further research' to bring him down.
But Mr Reed hit back, saying: 'Many of the anti-Semites that joined Labour under Jeremy Corbyn have now strolled in to the Green Party. Zack Polanski initially ignored it but after weeks of pressure he has finally acknowledged the problem and taken action. I welcome that and will keep shining a light on this vile racism.'
