The Conservatives have said they will back moves to lower the age at which adults can run for election to 18.

The move came ahead of an Electoral Commission report, to be published on Monday, on the minimum ages for voting and candidacy.

Charles Hendry, the shadow minister for young people, said the age of 18 marked "the time when a young person becomes an adult".

If the Electoral Commission, the independent elections watchdog, also backs a reduction it would open up the prospect of MPs and councillors being elected at the ages of 18, 19 and 20.

While the current minimum age is 21, the youngest MP so far elected is Sarah Teather, who won last September's Brent East by-election for the Liberal Democrats at the age of 29.

Defending his party's approach to the issue, Hendry said that local party organisations and voters would be best placed to decide on the suitability of younger candidates.

"Whilst there may be questions over whether an 18, 19 or 20 year has sufficient experience to be a parliamentarian, we believe that such subjective considerations are best assessed by political parties during their candidate selection process and ultimately by the electorate," he said.

Votes at 16?

However, Hendry said his party was opposed to any move that would lower the minimum voting age from 18 to 16.

He said this would "do nothing to address the underlying causes of apathy and voter disillusionment among young people – it would just perversely serve to lower the average level of turnout".

"Opening the door to younger elected representatives – such as 18 year old councillors – will do far more to re-engage young people in politics and create a new tier of representatives who can champion the issues that young people are concerned with," Hendry added.

The comments come amid speculation that Labour could back moves to reduce the minimum voting age to 16.