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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rachel Obordo and Guardian readers

16- and 17-year olds: do you think the voting age should be reduced?

School pupils joke with each other as they leave a polling station in Edinburgh, during the Scottish independence referendum
School pupils joke with each other as they leave a polling station in Edinburgh, during the Scottish independence referendum when 16- and 17-year-olds were granted the vote. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

A private member’s bill with cross-party backing which aims to lower the minimum age to vote will have its second reading on Friday.

Introduced by Labour MP Jim McMahon, the bill has official support from the party as well as MPs from the Greens, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and SNP.

The Welsh government is considering whether the voting age should be reduced as part of a consultation on electoral reform. Whilst during the Scottish independence referendum 16- and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote with an alleged turnout of around 75% for the age group.

Share your thoughts

We’d like to hear what 16- and 17-year-olds think about the proposal. Should the minimum voting age be lowered? Why? You can your experiences by filling in the encrypted form below. We’ll use a selection of your responses to inform our reporting.

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