Keir Starmer has proved himself a fool with this one policy that makes zero sense

With a flatlining economy, surging small boat crossings and increasing international threats, devoting time in 2025 to giving votes to 16-year-olds would be foolish.

But Labour has indicated one of its plans for the new year is to do just that, in an Elections Bill to be introduced in the next parliamentary session.

have accused the Government of trying to “rig” the system by attempting to give the vote to youngsters it believes swing more naturally to the Left. As Christmas has not long since passed, let’s be charitable and assume has the most honourable of intentions.

The Prime Minister set out his case before the general election, saying: “They can go out and work, they can serve in our Armed Forces and if they are out and working, they pay tax, and therefore they should have a say over how the money they pay in is being used.

“So, yes, I want to see that vote for 16 and 17-year-olds. If you can work, you can pay tax – if you can serve in your Armed Forces then you ought to be able to vote.”

The link between taxation and representation is a noble one at the heart of our democracy.

But the PM’s cover story quickly disintegrates when he goes on to invoke service in the Armed Forces. Young Army recruits, of course, are not allowed to serve on the front line.

If Starmer really believes that 16-year-olds are mature enough to choose a government that can take their country to war, then it follows that they are also capable of deciding whether to fire a gun and put their lives at risk in defence of that nation.

Of course that is not in the PM’s plans, and rightly so, because they are still children and he knows it. The point at which a child becomes an adult is arbitrary, but has been set at 18 since 1970.

If Labour believes that should be lowered because today’s teenagers are more mature than those of previous generations, then it should at least be consistent. Open the door of pubs to 16-year-olds, let them get a tattoo, marry without parental consent, get into debt. It would mean treating them as adults in the criminal justice system, putting them in an adult court and sending them to serve time in an adult prison.

But the Government does not intend to do any of that, because it believes they are still children who need to be protected from bad decisions. That is why it is pushing through a ban on smoking that means anyone born January 1, 2009 or later will never be able to legally light up a cigarette.

Children are no longer allowed to leave school at 16 unless they are going on to college, starting an apprenticeship or working for 20 hours a week while carrying out part-time education or training.

Shaun Roberts, campaigns director at Unlock Democracy, cites the ability of 16-year-olds to join the Army as a reason for giving 16-year-olds the vote – but in the next breath says they also need “protecting” in other areas of life.

“Some of the arguments we hear deployed against this do fall a bit weak,” he told LBC. “Yes, we do have laws to protect young people from things like gambling or drinking or smoking.

“I don’t think young people need protecting from democracy.”

The under-25s are the age group most likely to sign petitions, join campaigns or post political content online, according to parliamentary research from 2021. But less than half are believed to have turned up to vote on polling day, far fewer than all other age groups. Will 16-year-olds really be more motivated to turn out than their older brothers and sisters?

Labour was more than twice as popular with the under-25s as the Liberal Democrats in the last general election.

The Greens followed, with Reform the next major party and the firmly in bottom place.A cynic would suggest the figures make the motivation for the changes Labour wants to make crystal clear.

But Starmer may find the plan spectacularly backfires.

After just five months in the job, he polled as the worst prime minister in modern history, with six in ten people “dissatisfied” with his performance, including four in 10 Labour voters. Meanwhile, has one million followers on and is reporting a surge in young members signing up to Reform.

Generation Z may be young but they are not the foolish ones – a 16-year-old can suss out a failing government as well as any adult.