Still want to lower the voting age Sir Keir? Mail on Sunday poll reveals a third of 16 and 17-year-olds would back Nigel Farage’s Reform party in the next election_Nhy
Labour‘s plans to lower the voting age to 16 would be a boost for Nigel Farage‘s Reform UK Party, according to an exclusive poll for The Mail on Sunday.
No 10’s plans to add 1.5 million 16- and 17-year-old voters to the electoral roll – expected to be included in a new Elections Bill later this year – were drawn up when support for Sir Keir Starmer among the age group dwarfed that of his rivals.
But the new survey indicates that the wider Farage surge since Labour took power has been particularly pronounced among teenagers.
The poll was conducted by Find Out Now, who asked parents of 16- and 17-year-olds how their offspring were likely to vote. Its findings put Mr Farage’s party at 30 per cent – ahead of the 25 per cent Reform receives from the over-18s.
Labour is level-pegging on 30 per cent, while the Tories are out of sight on 7 per cent.
And when the 16- and 17-year-olds were asked if they thought that immigration was too high – a central plank of Mr Farage’s appeal – a total of 51 per cent agreed, while just 17 per cent disagreed.
Last night Mr Farage told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Labour should be careful what they wish for.’
Reform has used social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to blitz younger voters with its messaging at a time when many under-20s have started to rebel against ‘woke‘ orthodoxies about gender, migration and patriotism, as well as despairing about their chances of landing a secure job and a home of their own.
Nearly a third of parents of 16 and 17-year-olds said their offspring would back Nigel Farage’s Reform party at the next election, a new poll has shown
Labour and Reform were tied in the poll with 30 per cent of voters each, while 51 per cent agreed immigration is too high
Sir Keir has been accused of trying to ‘rig’ elections by extending the franchise, in what would be the first change to the UK-wide voting age since 1969
Helping to explain the effectiveness of Reform’s strategy, three-quarters of parents said their child received information about politics and current affairs primarily from social media.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has also influenced the debate. His deputy, JD Vance, used an incendiary speech on Friday to accuse European governments, including Britain’s, of ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech.
Sir Keir has been accused of trying to ‘rig’ elections by extending the franchise, which would mark the first change to the UK-wide voting age since 1969.
Find Out Now surveyed 511 parents of children aged 16-17 on February 12.
Find Out Now is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
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Foreign Office spends £3.75million of taxpayers’ money on advertising anti-immigration campaign which claims Britain is ‘bigoted’ and ‘run down’
Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money have been spent on a campaign in Albania which describes Britain as a ‘bigoted’ and ‘run-down’ country, it emerged last night.
The Foreign Office ran the social media campaign with the aim of preventing Albanians coming to the UK illegally.
Videos were posted on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, featuring Albanian refugees in Britain who complained about how expensive living was and how much discrimination they have faced.
They also featured images of closed shops covered in graffiti, run-down flats and piles of furniture lying next to a housing estate.
The campaign, which cost £3.75million a year, was overseen by the Foreign Office, and was begun under the last Tory government and continued by Labour.
It was started amid an unprecedented rise in Albanian migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats in 2022.
Home Office data showed 12,000 Albanians arrived that year, despite the country not being in a state of war, nor being as poor as Sudan or Syria.
An internal Foreign Office document, seen by the i Paper, said that the entire campaign failed, as it did not reduce irregular migration from Albania.
Videos were posted on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, featuring Albanian refugees in Britain who complained about how expensive living was and how much discrimination they have faced
The Foreign Office ran the social media campaign with the aim of preventing Albanians coming to the UK illegally
It was started amid an unprecedented rise in migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats in 2022 (Picture dated May 2024)
The document said: ‘There is limited evidence of the effectiveness of a dissuasive communications approach.’
Last night politicians and activists criticised the programme. Reform leader Nigel Farage branded the campaign ‘an absolute farce,’ even though he agrees the Government must do all it can to deter illegal migration.
He said: ‘It goes along with the whole narrative that Labour hates our country.’
In one of the videos, an Albanian graduate called Vera living in the UK says she is working in the hospitality industry, and finding it difficult to adapt.
