Now that 16- and 17-year-olds across the UK will soon get the vote, what will politicians need to focus on if they’re to win their support?
Our UK Youth Poll 2025 earlier this year sought to shed some light on that question. We interviewed 2000 16-29 year olds and were able to segment the 16-17 year age group.
Here’s what they had to say.
We asked young people to rank issues and priorities by importance to them. The top five for 16 and 17 year olds was: inflation and the cost of living, housing affordability, healthcare (eg: the NHS), crime, and mental health.
What would make young people happier or more satisfied with their lives? The top five were as follows: higher wages and financial stability, stronger relationship with family and friends, affordable housing, better career opportunities and better mental health support.
Will adding 16 and 17 year olds to the franchise be a boon for left-wing parties? Our poll found that most of the cohort don’t put themselves on the left, preferring the middle ground. But younger voters certainly do feel “warmer” to parties like Labour, the Greens and the LibDems than the Conservatives and (especially) Reform UK.
And as to where young people go to keep informed about current affairs, there is no surprise: social media rules – and will rule all the more in UK political campaigns when 16- and 17-year-olds are added to the mix.
Our Youth Poll found that – broadly speaking – the priorities of 16- and 17-year-olds were similar to the 18-29 age category. It suggests that adding them to the franchise means that the demographic scales may be tipped a little more towards their shared agenda – to focus on housing, wages, and jobs
There is a proviso, however.
There is little point extending the voting age to 16 and 17 year olds if few of that age range see the point in having it. Polls yesterday found that a half of 16- and 17-year-olds don’t actually want the vote and only 18% said they would definitely use it.
That’s why the John Smith Centre supports programmes of citizen education and political literacy in schools to help students to understand both the opportunity to vote and the reason why it’s worth doing in the first place.
Extending the voting age is one thing. Working with young people so they feel they can be tomorrow’s change-makers remains the real and more urgent task.
