Voting age: 18 too high?

Political parties have been urged to back moves to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

A coalition of campaign groups said on Wednesday that the current age limit was "unjust".

The call came ahead of Thursday's poll, where under-18s will not be entitled to vote.

Members of the Votes at 16 coalition argue that if 16 and 17-year-olds are able to leave home, get a full-time job, pay taxes, raise children and join the army, they should also be able to vote.

The organisation also says that young people want the right to vote, describing it as the "next logical step" from citizenship education.

And lowering the voting age could help to reinvigorate the ‘youth vote' by forcing politicians to take young people more seriously, they said.

Louise King of the Children's Rights Alliance said that at 16 and 17, young people "have considerable responsibilities, and routinely make complex decisions".

She said that "adult society does not consider them responsible enough to vote".

"This is both illogical and unjust," King added.

Clare Oliver from the British Youth Council added: "The UK led the world with the Representation of the People Act 1969, which lowered the voting age to 18. 

"The next government should show similar bold leadership and extend the franchise to the country’s one and half million 16 and 17-year-olds."