Votes at 16

Infobox Organization
name = Votes at 16 Coalition


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type = Coalition
headquarters = 6 Chancel Street, London, SE1 0UU
location = United Kingdom
membership = Organisations
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website = [http://www.votesat16.org.uk/ www.votesat16.org.uk]

Votes at 16 a campaign in the United Kingdom which argues in favour of the reduction of the voting age to 16 for all public elections. Gordon Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, expressed his support for the cause in 2006 [ [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/apathy/story/0,,1718744,00.html http://politics.guardian.co.uk/apathy/story/0,,1718744,00.html] ] , and has committed himself to lowering the voting age to 16. The voting age on the Isle of Man has been lowered to 16 as a result of the campaign. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/isle_of_man/4690678.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/isle_of_man/4690678.stm] ]

Coalition

Votes at 16 Coalition is a national coalition of major leading UK Youth organisations, political parties and supporters of the Votes at 16 Cause [ [http://www.votesat16.org.uk/links.php Votes At 16 ] ] . The Coalition is lead by a steering group of active members who include the Electoral Reform Society who host the secretariat of the coalition [ [http://electoral-reform.org.uk/news.php?ex=0&nid=101 Electoral Reform Society ] ] . Both the British Youth Council and the UK Youth Parliament have campaigned for Votes at 16 for a number of years. [ [http://www.politics.co.uk/press-releases/opinion-former-index/children-and-family/byc-votes-at-16-%E2%80%98shot-in-arm%E2%80%99-british-politics-needs-says-mp-$482561.htm BYC: Votes at 16 is the ‘shot in the arm’ British politics needs, says MP ] ]
To date (December 2007), many councils including Leeds, Hastings [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/politics_show/6129660.stm BBC NEWS | Programmes | Politics Show | South East: Politics on the menu ] ] , Islington [http://www.islington.gov.uk/democracy/documents/getdoc_ext.asp?DocID=26747] , Cambridge [ [http://www.votesat16.org.uk/resources/sites/217.206.220.36-3e2c1aed3bcbe8.89092991/Issues+Briefing.doc Votes At 16 ] ] , Eastbourne [ [http://www.activeeast.org.uk/EAN/news.html ActiveEast ] ] & Kent [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6111088.stm BBC NEWS | England | Kent | Council support for 'Votes at 16' ] ] have passed motions in support of lowering the voting age to 16.

Trade Union UNISON has also voted to support Votes at 16.

The Labour Party's Conference in 2008 voted to accept the hard won recommendation of Labour's National Policy Forum to support Votes at 16 and include a commitment within the next manifesto.

Votes at 16 is also supported by the Scottish National Party (SNP) and its youth wing the Young Scots for Independence (YSI). As the SNP is now in government in Scotland they have now officially called for the voting age to be lowered to 16.

The campaign espouses several principles in favour of lowering the voting age. [ [http://www.votesat16.org.uk/resources/sites/217.206.220.36-3e2c1aed3bcbe8.89092991/Issues+Briefing.html Votes At 16 ] ]

External links

* [http://www.votesat16.org.uk Votes at 16]
* [http://www.myspace.com/votesat16 Votes at 16 Myspace]
* [http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk UK Youth Parliament]
* [http://www.byc.org.uk British Youth Council]
* [http://www.scotland.gov.uk Scottish Government]
* [http://www.snp.org Scottish National Party]
* [http://www.snpyouth.org Young Scots for Independence]

References

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7440489.stm