![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1_050522PM1-0052.jpg\")
Stock image of a polling station(Image: Philip Magowan \/ PressEye)<\/p>\nThe UK Government confirmed the voting age would be reduced to 16Stock image of a polling station(Image: Philip Magowan \/ PressEye)<\/p>\n
The UK Government has announced it intends to lower the voting age to 16 in time for the next General Election.<\/a><\/p>\n This means a Bill would be brought forward before 2029 which will include extending the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds, with the government working to create a system of automated voter registration.<\/p>\n Those aged 16 or over can already vote in Holyrood, Senedd and local government elections in Wales and Scotland, but not in UK parliamentary elections.<\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE: Irish Government draft law banning trade with Israeli settlements sparks ‘Fr Ted’ row<\/a>READ MORE: Assembly committee urges victims of mother and baby homes to speak out<\/a><\/p>\n But what does this latest news mean for Northern Ireland<\/a>? Here is everything we know so far.<\/p>\n What have the UK government announced on voting age reduction?<\/p>\n On Thursday, July 19, the UK government announced 16 and 17-year-olds would be able to vote at the next general election. Currently, only those aged 18 and over can vote in UK parliament elections and all elections in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n Lowering the voting age to 16 across the UK would be the biggest change to the electorate since it was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1969.<\/p>\n Other changes announced include expanding forms of voter ID to include UK-issued bank cards, moving towards automatic voter registration, and tightening rules on political donations to protect against foreign interference.<\/p>\n When would voting age reduction be in place?<\/p>\n The government has confirmed it is planning to introduce the change in time for 16 and 17-year-olds to vote at the next UK general election, which is due to take place by 2029, but could be called earlier.<\/p>\n What does this mean for Northern Ireland?<\/p>\n It is not yet known whether the legislation will be in place before the next election to the Northern Ireland Assembly <\/a>and local government elections in the region, which are set to take place in 2027.<\/p>\n What have politicians in Northern Ireland said about the change?<\/p>\n First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill <\/a>has described the voting age reduction as a \u201cstep forward for democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll now be contacting the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer<\/a>, urging him to ensure that the right to vote at 16 applies to the 2027 Assembly and Council elections in the north,\u201d she said in a post on the social media network X.<\/p>\n SDLP<\/a> leader Claire Hanna said voting rights should be changed at all levels.<\/p>\n \u201cEnfranchising 16 and 17-year-olds has been a long held SDLP position and we welcome confirmation from the Government today that this will be in place for the next general election,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many young people in Northern Ireland actively engaged in politics and I know that for generations there has been frustration that they could not play a full role in the democratic process.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SDLP believes that these voting rights must stretch beyond general elections and be extended to voting for the Assembly and local councils.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue to make the case for that at Westminster and push for change to secure voting at all levels for 16 and 17-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n There was also a call to ensure the legislation is in place by 2027 from the Alliance Party<\/a>. North Antrim MLA Sian Mulholland said: \u201cWe have long-argued that the disenfranchisement of our society\u2019s young people is a major democratic deficit here in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, time is of the essence and we need urgent clarification that it will be a priority to see this implemented in time for the next NI Assembly election in 2027. We cannot afford any further delay.\u201d<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage<\/strong> here<\/a> and sign up to our politics newsletter<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK Government confirmed the voting age would be reduced to 16Stock image of a polling station(Image: Philip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[378,1144,285,16,10788,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-270390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-in-the-news","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-politics","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-uk-government","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114870831437800533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}