Young people who are members of the Green Party in Exeter have welcomed the Government’s decision to reduce the minimum voting age to 16. The policy, announced as part of the government’s Elections Bill, has long been backed by the Green Party.
Young Green member Angus Crocker, who is 17, said:
“Young people are excited that the government is finally expanding the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds. Too often young people feel hopeless and disillusioned with politics, as we are shut out of the system that controls the world we live in.
“Reducing the minimum voting age will empower young people, giving us responsibility and allowing our voices to influence decisions and policy; it will challenge our broken two-party system and will mean the political establishment will have to care more about the views and needs of young people, our future, and the world we will inherit.”
Green councillor in Exeter, Thomas Richardson, who, at 20, is the youngest councillor on Devon County Council and has been actively involved in Young Greens for a number of years, welcomed votes for 16 and 17-year-olds but said the government must now introduce a fair voting system:
“This is a good move to strengthen UK democracy and representation. But the government must go further. We desperately need to shake up how we elect our politicians so that the votes of young people – and everyone else – really count.
“First Past the Post (FPTP) causes distrust and alienation in politics and replacing it with a fair proportional voting system is the great missing link in the government’s Elections Bill. If a fairer voting system is right for electing mayors – and the government decided last week that it was – the same must be true for electing all representatives to local and national government.”