17 July 2025, 14:24 | Updated: 17 July 2025, 14:29

By James Hanson

Our economy is on the rocks, growth is non-existent, legal and illegal immigration remains out of control, public services are creaking, and a looming debt crisis is on the horizon.

But fear not - today Labour has announced its big idea for turning around Britain’s fortunes: votes for children.

Around 1.5 million 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to vote at the next general election, under government plans to lower the voting age. The Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali has pretentiously described the change as “seismic” - as if this is somehow comparable with the extension of the franchise to women or the working class.

Let’s be clear: Labour is not striking a blow for electoral equality. They are engaging in student gesture politics. Votes for 16 year-olds is the kind of policy that wins a cheap round of applause on campuses, but for which there is little public demand and even less intellectual reasoning.

Firstly, the left has never been........

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