Would giving 16-year-olds the vote improve democracy or just change the way campaigns are run?

Voting is an important right that we need in our world. The UK government published the Representation of the People Bill on February 12th 2026 and the purpose of this notion is to lower the current voting age from 18 to 16 before the next general election.

In the UK, things have already started to change: Scotland’s voting age officially moved down to 16 in 2015 and Wales followed on in 2021. In my opinion, I do not agree with this idea. Although the news states that 16-year-olds should be able to decide the country’s future, I disagree because 16-year-olds have not even planned their own future – they are too focused on school to even begin to consider the country’s future.

The second reason is that 16-year-olds are not as mature as 18-year-olds. They go to parties, hang out in gangs, or even start problems on the streets. BBC news disagrees, stating many now want the age at which people can vote to go even lower. David Runciman, a professor of politics at Cambridge, recently called for the age to be set at 6. This is outrageous! Six-year-olds are learning about how to read and write, not talking about democracy!

I think 18 should be minimum age, in line with legal responsibility. 16-year-olds spend too much time on their devices and this might influence their vote due to misinformation and AI. Some people think that being different and making different choices is weird, so they just follow along with the masses (which I do sometimes) and this might happen if 16-year-olds join the vote. Young people will vote for who is more popular or who has the most likes on social media – which will change the purity of democracy. I do not think 16-year-olds are ready to enter the world of adulthood so I think my answer to the question of would giving them the vote improve democracy is a firm no.