Alastair Campbell says Labour right to consider handing 16 and 17-year-olds vote despite bias fears

14 May 2023, 16:57 | Updated: 15 May 2023, 02:01

Alastair Campbell has said the Labour party is right to consider extending the vote to 16 and 17 year-olds, as he called for "a complete overhaul of the way we do politics".

Speaking to LBC, the former press secretary and a senior advisor to Tony Blair said that while giving over million young people the right to vote in general elections might currently favour Labour, the political class should stop "patronising" young people and give them say in how the country is run.

It comes after it was reported on Saturday night that under manifesto plans, Sir Keir Starmer would launch a “package of proposals” including handing the vote to millions of EU citizens and 16 and 17-year-olds.

Labour have since insisted that such proposals were part of the policy process, and not a final manifesto plan.

Asked whether the move was kite-flying exercise by Labour, or a serious policy proposal, Mr Campbell said: “I hope it’s the latter”, and it was "a good thing to do".

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“I was involved in the Scottish referendum campaign, where this was first trialled, as it were, and it absolutely transformed the debate," Mr Campbell said.

“Even though most of the 16 and 17-year-olds probably voted contrary to the way I wanted them to vote (because I was fighting for the “no” campaign), it was just fantastic…”

Mr Campbell recalled walking one day to the campaign headquarters and overhearing a group of school students standing at a bus stop arguing about nuclear weapons and housing policy.

“I think my generation, politically, is very very patronising of you people. I think we look at young people and say, ‘oh, well they don’t vote like older people do, let’s focus more on pensioners’.

“But one of the reasons they don’t vote as much is that they don’t see the link, necessarily, between the challenges they’re facing in their lives and the political process as they see it in the media and across Parliament.”

Alastair Campbell supports lowering voting age to 16

Referring to the fact that “what is the EU"” was among the most frequent searches in the UK after Brexit, the former Labour enforcer stressed that lowering the voting age “has to be accompanied by a proper commitment to political education in this country.

“I actually honestly believe - yes, I wanted Labour to replace the Tories, and I want this government gone as soon as possible - but we need far more change than just a change of government.

“We need a complete overhaul of the way that we do politics.”

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Critics have suggested extending the franchise to younger people, which will see around 1.4 million new potential voters, is a cynical attempt by Labour to capture more Labour-leaning votes.

Speaking to the Telegraph, who broke the story that the party were planning the move, polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice said young people and migrants were more likely to support Labour.

“The presumption we all have, rightly or wrongly, is that they’re more likely to be opposed to Brexit, and therefore less likely to vote for the Conservative Party,” he said.

“London is already so overwhelmingly Labour – there are some Tory constituencies left, but not that many of them, and they are the ones that will be particularly on the line.”

Mr Campbell, said that though there appears to be a bias among young voters towards Labour at the moment, it’s “not going to stay there forever.”

He added: “When we brought in the Scotland Act that delivered the Scottish parliament, we devised a voting system that was actually designed to stop us being able to get an overall majority, because we were already so powerful in Westminster.

“Nobody would have guessed back then that within a few years the SNP would have a majority at Holyrood.

“So yes, it might benefit Labour now, but don’t forget, Labour’s got to win an election with the current system before they can change the system anyway.”