The U.K. Labour government unveiled a controversial plan this week to lower the voting age to 16 ahead of the next general election, in what many conservatives are calling a blatant attempt to sway the next election in their favor.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform U.K., called the move “an attempt to rig the political system,” but warned they “intend to give them a nasty surprise.” While Labour currently <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2083204/nigel-farage-votes-16-Labour">leads</a> among 16-17-year-olds with approximately 33% support, Reform U.K.’s strong 20% showing suggests the plan could backfire on Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner defended the controversial proposal, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628ep4j5kno">saying</a>, “I was a mum at 16, you can go to work, you can pay your taxes and I think that people should have a vote at 16,” according to the BBC.
The voting age change would affect approximately 3% of the U.K. population aged 16 and over. Labour insists the reform isn’t designed to benefit their party, with Rayner claiming, “This isn’t about trying to rig votes for a particular party. This is about democracy and giving young people an opportunity to have a say.”
Speaking in a video posted to X, Farage expanded on his criticism of the proposal.
“The problem with this is, not only do half of youngsters not want the vote, but they have to stay at school now until they’re 18,” Farage said in a video shared to X. “The educational establishment is full of left-wing prejudice, is full of anti-reform bias, and frankly, if 16- to 18-year-olds at school are going to be able to vote, we’re going to have to make sure that our education system is teaching kids to make their own minds up and not indoctrinating them.”
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Giving 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote is an attempt to rig the political system. 
If this goes ahead, Labour could be in for a shock. <a href="https://t.co/CF9GYfRfFP">pic.twitter.com/CF9GYfRfFP</a>
&mdash; Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1945837816727908842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Conservative shadow minister Paul Holmes slammed the policy in the House of Commons, questioning why the “hopelessly confused” government believes “a 16-year-old can vote, but not be allowed to buy a lottery ticket, an alcoholic drink, marry, or go to war, or even stand in the elections they’re voting in?”
Reform U.K. already maintains significant influence among younger demographics on social media, with Farage commanding 1.3 million TikTok followers compared to Labour’s official account, which has just 231,300 followers.
According to Ofcom, 44% of British TikTok users who get news from the platform rely more on “other people they follow” than traditional news outlets.
YouGov polling from June showed that Labour support among 18 to 24-year-olds has dropped by 11% since last year’s general election, while Reform U.K. has seen corresponding gains in the same demographic, <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2083263/keir-starmer-voting-age-nigel-farage">per</a> Lotti O’Brien of Express U.K.
The voting age change is part of a broader elections reform package introduced by Starmer’s government.
Other measures include expanding acceptable voter ID to include U.K.-issued bank cards and implementing an automated voter registration system that would share data between government agencies — policies the Conservative Party warns could “undermine the security of the ballot box.”
The government, if the legislation passes through parliament, as anticipated, expects to implement these changes before the next general election, which must take place by 2029, but could be called earlier.

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U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday announced a major immigration overhaul that doubles the residency requirement for citizenship and imposes stricter English language requirements, declaring settlement in Britain &#8220;a privilege, not a right.&#8221;
The new policy increases the residency requirement from five to ten years before migrants can apply for citizenship, with exceptions for those making a &#8220;high contribution&#8221; to the island nation.
The overhaul is being <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/new-english-language-and-british-citizenship-requirements-for-migrants-13365884">spearheaded</a> by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, promising English language requirements across every visa route, extending to adult dependents for the first time.
&#8220;We will create a migration system that is controlled, selective, and fair &#8211; a clean break from the past,&#8221; Starmer said at a press conference on Monday, per <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw5oI3qJmFA">Sky News</a>. “When people come to our country, they should also commit to integration and to learning our language.&#8221;
The reforms come as net migration to the U.K. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4vlyly0l2o">reached</a> record levels, climbing to 906,000 in June 2023 and standing at 728,000 last year, according to the BBC.
&#8220;That is what this White Paper will deliver: lower net migration, higher skills and backing British workers,&#8221; with the reforms estimated to cut migrant numbers by 50,000 annually.
Starmer accused industries of being &#8220;almost addicted to importing cheap labour&#8221; instead of &#8220;investing in the skills of people here and want a good job in their community.&#8221; He singled out engineering as a sector &#8220;where visas have rocketed while apprenticeships have plummeted.&#8221;
The government&#8217;s immigration White Paper reflects months of research and comes after Reform U.K. made significant gains in local elections, applying political pressure on Labour to address migration concerns.
While previously critical of Conservative immigration policies, Starmer now finds himself implementing restrictions that in some ways go beyond those proposed by his conservative predecessors.
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If you want to live in the UK, you should speak English. That’s common sense.
So we’re raising English language requirements across every main immigration route.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1921872765428109714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Conservative critics remain skeptical of Labour&#8217;s commitment to immigration control, as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/ce810e3z6dkt?post=asset%3Ae2d3062c-3d44-4892-8559-94757c56adaa#post">polls</a> show increasing popular support for reduced immigration.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp dismissed the proposal, saying the idea that Starmer &#8220;is tough on immigration is a joke&#8221; and promised to push Parliament to introduce a binding cap on migration, which Starmer has declined to implement thus far.
Labour Party MP Sarah Owen, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee in Parliament, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/ce810e3z6dkt?post=asset%3A9a4b165e-3442-46ba-a81f-b0ea797d5317#post">slammed</a> Starmer from the Left, writing on Bluesky that the PM is &#8220;chasing the tail of the right&#8221; and is putting the U.K. on &#8220;a very dark path.&#8221;
Starmer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/12/uk-risks-becoming-island-of-strangers-without-more-immigration-curbs-starmer-says">warned</a> that without &#8220;fair rules,&#8221; Britain risked becoming &#8220;an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.&#8221;

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Since they cascaded to victory last summer, Great Britain’s leftist Labour Party has removed portraits of two of the most famous Prime Ministers the country ever had, the Duke of Wellington and Winston Churchill, both of whom were responsible for defeating the country’s greatest arch-enemies, Napoleon and Adolph Hitler.
“Portraits of Winston Churchill, the Duke of Wellington, and more British heroes have been removed from the Houses of Parliament after Labour&#8217;s election win last summer, it has emerged,” GB News <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/politics/keir-starmer-winston-churchill-portrait-parliament-labour-party-history">reported</a>. “Since the General Election, drawings, photographs and prints of historical British political leaders and monarchs have been axed across Westminster &#8211; some of which were ‘blacklisted’ in 2020. &#8230; One photograph removed from Portcullis House &#8211; the main office building for MPs &#8211; showed the Second World War leader standing at the Cenotaph in 1945.”
The Cenotaph is a national war memorial to the dead of the First and Second World Wars and the wars that have followed. It&#8217;s the site of the National Service of Remembrance every November.
Churchill was not only the leader who led the fight against Hitler from the beginning, he also was a gifted writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. Churchill had been warning for many years before World War II of the growing Nazi threat. “It is for his leadership through these fraught years of 1940-1941 – through Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz &#8211; that Churchill is best remembered,&#8221; the International War Museum <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-churchill-led-britain-to-victory-in-the-second-world-war">notes</a>. “Crucially, he rallied the nation in defiance of Hitler. In the words of Labour politician Hugh Dalton, Churchill was &#8216;the only man we have for this hour.&#8217; This view was shared by the overwhelming majority of the British people.”
After British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pusillanimously conceded to Hitler in 1938, Churchill famously predicted, “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonour. They chose dishonour. They will have war.”
“His finest hour was the leadership of Britain when it was most isolated, most threatened, and most weak; when his own courage, determination, and belief in democracy became at one with the nation,” Churchill’s biographer Martin Gilbert wrote.
The Duke Of Wellington, who, like Churchill, served as Prime Minister twice, is still regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history. He commanded the army that defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, and never lost a major battle.

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Nigel Farage Slams U.K. Labour Push For 16-Year-Old Voters, Plans A ‘Nasty Surprise’ For Starmer

‘Island Of Strangers’: U.K. Raises English Proficiency Requirements In Sweeping Immigration Overhaul

British Labour Party Removes Portraits Of Two Of Country’s Greatest Heroes