Votes at 16 consultation is now closed and a summary of responses to the consultation can be viewed here.
Why the Youth Citizenship Commission is consulting on lowering the voting age
Young people are becoming increasingly disinterested in formal political processes and are not getting involved in our democracy. For instance, compared with older people, they are less likely to vote, attend political meetings, contact their MPs or join a political party.
However, young people do care about the issues that affect their lives and do get involved in informal political activities, like voluntary work, single issue campaigns, signing petitions and going on marches. What seems to be missing is a connection between what young people care about and the formal political process.
The Youth Citizenship Commission (YCC) was set up to examine ways to encourage more young people to become interested in using the power of politics to change the things they care about, and reviewing the minimum age for voting was just part of the measures the Commission considered.