- King’s Speech omits Labour’s pledge to lower voting age
- Votes for 16-17-year-olds still promised
- Lords reform excludes retiring at age 80
The King’s Speech does not include Labour’s manifesto vow to cut the voting age from 18 to 16 in UK general elections.
However, Commons leader Lucy Powell said that votes for 16 and 17-year-olds were still a promise, and she hoped they would be able to vote in the next general election.
During the 2014 election campaign, the Conservative Party accused Labour of attempting to “distort the political system” to consolidate power.
Another commitment that should have been cut was requiring members of the House of Lords to retire at the age of 80 when King Charles read out the new government’s proposed laws for the upcoming parliamentary session.
Then-Home Secretary James Cleverly said that measures like extending the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds were an attempt by Labour to “lock in their power permanently, because they don’t really believe they’ll be able to make a credible case to the British people at the next election.
When asked on Radio 5 Live why reducing the voting age was not included in this King’s Speech, Ms Powell stated there were “plenty of big bills that didn’t make it into this”.
She vowed that an election measure will be introduced later in the parliamentary cycle, saying, “It’s absolutely a manifesto commitment.”
When asked if 16 and 17-year-olds would be eligible to vote in the upcoming general election, she replied, “I hope so. That is the intention.
A session of Parliament typically lasts about a year, and there are numerous sessions in a five-year parliamentary term.
People aged 16 and up can now vote in parliamentary and municipal elections in Scotland and Wales.
The speech did feature specific reforms to the House of Lords, such as a bill that would abolish the right of remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords, but it did not address the retirement age.
According to an official briefing paper on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, roughly 100 seats should not be allocated in the twenty-first century for persons born into specific families, with those seats effectively reserved for men.
Tony Blair’s Lords amendments decreased hereditary peers to 92. That was intended to be a temporary compromise, but the arrangements have lasted 25 years.
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The King stated that other constitutional modifications were anticipated later in the parliamentary cycle.
He stated that the government would “strengthen the integrity of elections and encourage widespread participation in the democratic process”.
He said a “modernisation committee” of the House of Commons will be charged with “raising standards, improving work practices, and reforming procedures.”
Harold Wilson’s Labour government reduced the voting age in the United Kingdom to 18 in 1969, from 21.
In 2015, the Scottish Parliament reduced the voting age to 16. A similar approach was implemented in Wales in 2020.
