The Government announced that they will extend the vote to 16 and 17 year olds in time for the next General Election through the introduction of a new Elections and Democracy Bill to be brought forward by the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Angela Rayner and Rushanara Ali will pilot the Bill through the Commons. Secondary legislation will also be required to set out the necessary digital ID solutions for implementation (which makes one wonder if this will actually get done before the next election…)

The announcement – which redeems a Labour manifesto commitment came via a “Policy Paper” issued by DHCLG seeks to address the often-stated logical oddity that younger UK nationals could join the Armed Forces or leave school to take a civilian job at an age that they could not vote (although both are only “up to a point, Lord Copper.”)

I never saw this as a huge problem: after all, you can’t command the army, or even your battalion as a 16 or 17 year old recruit – you actually can’t even “go to war” as a Junior Soldier until becoming a Regular at 18, but instead spend your first years in the military learning how to march and follow orders. However, addressing this logical inconsistency will make other age-related oddities only worse: after lowering the voting age it will be possible for 16 year olds to vote at an age when they are not considered responsible enough to buy alcohol, or tobacco, drive a car, buy a lottery ticket or get married. This does not seem logical to me.

Careful what you wish for.