has taunted Prime Minister after Reform UK hit the 100,000-member mark – suggesting his party’s dramatic surge in popularity among young people explained why Labour has shelved plans to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote.
has previously expressed support for the idea, arguing that it would empower young people and encourage democratic engagement from an earlier age.
However, they have since clarified that they will not introduce immediate legislation to implement this change – a fact seized upon by Clacton MP Mr Farage in a press conference this afternoon, during which he introduced .
He explained: “Milestone, though it is, this is but a fraction of what we’re actually capable of achieving. People want something different.
“There is one other number I want to point out to you, and that is my personal account, which, last week, went through a million followers, and we get tens of millions of views on my account every single month.
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Nigel Farage took a swipe at Labour over lowering the voting age (Image: Getty Images)
Of that one million, two-thirds were under the age of 35 and half of them were under the age of 25, Mr Farage pointed out.
He added: “Something remarkable is happening with Gen Z, and it’s not just happening here.
“It happened in America at the last election, where got 44% of the under 30s to vote for him, something that was unthinkable in 2016 and 2020 and it’s happening across much of the rest of Europe too.
“A lot of those that seem to support me are 16 and 17, which is perhaps why the Labor government have decided not to lower the voting age put forward as a suggestion.
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour has not introduced legislation on the issue (Image: Getty)
“I don’t know, but there’s something very exciting happening, and what we have to do is to turn that enthusiasm into people that actually register and go out to vote.
“Of the British voting public, two thirds say they would like a proper alternative to vote for, not just the main two.”
Asked during an interview on Radio 5 Live in July why lowering the voting age had not featured in this King’s Speech, Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell insisted there were “plenty of big bills that didn’t make it into this”.
An elections bill would come later in the parliamentary cycle, she vowed, saying it was “absolutely a manifesto commitment”.
Asked whether 16 and 17-year-olds would be able to vote in the next general election, she agreed: “I hope so. That’s the intention.”