{"id":236961,"date":"2026-08-05T13:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/236961\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T13:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:54:08","slug":"votes-for-16-year-olds-could-boost-anti-israel-candidates-burnham-warned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/236961\/","title":{"rendered":"Votes for 16-year-olds could boost anti-Israel candidates, Burnham warned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The four MPs, Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejc.com\/news\/politics\/ayoub-khan-pro-gaza-mp-netanyahu-dog-tasted-blood-israel-w5053oph\" data-tracking-context=\"In article link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ayoub Khan<\/a>, were elected on an explicitly pro-Palestinian platform in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Wider polling has also consistently shown high levels of support for the Palestinian cause among the British Muslim community.<\/p>\n<p>In light of the findings, Kevin Hollinrake, chair of the Conservative Party, has issued a stark warning to the prime minister that lowering the voting age could damage\u00a0Labour\u2019s electoral prospects.<\/p>\n<p>He told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/article-16028267\/Andy-Burnham-warned-plan-votes-16-backfire.html\" data-tracking-context=\"In article link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daily Mail<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cLabour&#8217;s Votes at 16 plan could backfire in spectacular fashion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Muslim Council of Britain&#8217;s own figures show 49 constituencies where this expanded electorate could swing the result, and recent elections have shown just how many of those voters are willing to back Gaza independents over Labour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLabour may find they&#8217;ve opened a Pandora&#8217;s Box they can&#8217;t close.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the May 2026 council elections, over 100 Muslim independent councillors were elected to councils across the country, adding to the dozens already in office.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Burnham supported then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s intention to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.<\/p>\n<p>Burnham said that he was \u201cproud to be supporting a new national effort led by My Life My Say and partners from across the country to lower the voting age to 16 in all UK elections, V16.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added:\u00a0\u201cThe campaign seeks to update democracy by installing votes at 16, trusting young people to have a say in the decisions that shape their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The MCB\u2019s report, titled British Muslims in numbers: a statistical compendium, analysed the impact of a major and continuous demographic shift in Britain over the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>Between 2011 and 2021, the Muslim population increased by 1.2 million people, and the group now makes up 6 per cent\u00a0of the total\u00a0population.<\/p>\n<p>Over 45 per cent of British Muslims are aged under 25, with Muslims now accounting for one in ten schoolchildren in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The four MPs, Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed, and Ayoub Khan, were elected on an explicitly pro-Palestinian&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[46517,1303,37,66474],"class_list":["post-236961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-andy-burnham","tag-elections","tag-israel","tag-pro-gaza-independent-mps"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117043243489574952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}