Suffrage

(Return to the manifesto)

1. We propose to make voting at national elections mandatory, and to ensure that every eligible citizen appears on an electoral roll. We regard voting as a duty.
2. We will extend the voting franchise to all eligible citizens from the age of twelve. Citizens in secondary education receive mandatory lessons in Civics knowing they will have to wait anything up to twelve years before they will first get an opportunity to vote in a national election. That is not an incentive. Reducing the age at which they can vote will have a galvanizing effect on their interest in the governance of Britain. Everyone in these classes should know from the start that they will have a duty to vote before leaving secondary education.