UK Politics

Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday.The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain’s Parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections.Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament.The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing rules to stop shell companies with murky ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics.There will also be tougher sentences for people convicted of intimidating candidates.Additionally, the government said it will introduce automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations.The previous Conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identification in 2022, a measure it said would combat fraud. Critics argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities.Elections watchdog the Electoral Commission estimates that about 750,000 people did not vote in last year’s election because they lacked ID.Turnout in the 2024 election was 59.7%, the lowest level in more than two decades.Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of left-leaning think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the changes were “the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969,” when the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21.The changes must be approved by Parliament. The next national election must be held by 2029.“For too long, public trust in our democracy has been damaged and faith in our institutions has been allowed to decline,” Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said. “We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in U.K. democracy.”Stuart Fox, a politics lecturer at the University of Exeter who has studied youth voting, said it’s “far from clear” whether lowering the voting age actually increases youth engagement.“It is right to help young people be heard,” he said. “But there are other measures which are more effective at getting young people to vote — particularly those from the poorest backgrounds who are by far the least likely to vote — such as beefing up the citizenship curriculum or expanding the provision of volunteering programs in schools.” More

A government minister has told Labour MPs punished for voting against welfare reforms that they have only themselves to blame in the escalating rebels row.Keir Starmer suspended Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff on Wednesday after the four rebels voted against the government’s flagship benefits bill earlier this month.Responding to controversy over the prime minister’s decision, home office minister Jess Phillips said on Thursday: “I disagree often with directions that are going on and I spend time working with colleagues on the back and front benches ensuring that we discuss these things.“Constantly taking to the airwaves and slagging off your own government – I have to say: what did you think was going to happen?”There had to be a level of party discipline for the government to function, Ms Phillips, who is the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.Government minister Jess Phillips has told Labour MPs punished for voting against welfare reforms that they have only themselves to blame in the escalating rebels row More

Labour voters support junior doctors’ plans to stage a five-day walkout next week, even as public support for the strike collapses, according to a new poll. Overall people oppose the industrial action due to start next Friday by a margin of 44 per cent to 34 per cent, pollsters More in Common found. However, Labour voters support the strikes, with 47 per cent in favour and 35 per cent against, in a major challenge to the stance taken by the health secretary Wes Streeting who has vociferously pressed doctors’ leaders to ditch their plans.Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Government ‘can’t go further on pay’ for resident doctors (Lucy North/PA) More

Sir Keir Starmer has vented his fury over the cover-up of the catastrophic data breach that risked the lives of up to 100,000 Afghans, as it emerged no one had faced action over the huge blunder.The prime minister said the leak should never have happened and that Tory ministers have “serious questions to answer”, a day after an unprecedented superinjunction was lifted.Sir Ben Wallace, who was defence secretary at the time the initial legal order was sought, earlier said he took full responsibility for the leak, which happened when an MoD official released a spreadsheet containing the names of 18,000 Afghans “in error”.But questions have been raised over why no one has been fired over the breach, which risked putting the lives of those with links to UK forces in danger of reprisals from the Taliban, amid calls for further investigation.It comes as the chair of a powerful Commons committee has written to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), applying pressure for a rethink on its decision not to investigate the breach, which cost the taxpayer billions in relocating thousands of affected Afghans to the UK. At the start of a tense Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir expressed his anger, telling MPs: “We warned in opposition about Conservative management of this policy and yesterday, the defence secretary set out the full extent of the failings that we inherited: a major data breach, a superinjunction, a secret route that has already cost hundreds of millions of pounds.“Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen.”Starmer speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions More

Sir Keir Starmer has suspended at least three Labour MPs as he seeks to reassert his authority after a series of damaging backbench rebellions. The Independent understands that rebel leader Rachael Maskell, along with Chris Hinchliffe, have been called in to see the chief whip over the recent revolt over welfare reforms and are expected to have the whip suspended. Two others, Brian Leishman and Neil Duncan-Jordan, confirmed they had been suspended. The MPs are thought to have lost the party whip over “persistent breaches of party discipline”. The move comes before politicians depart Westminster for the summer early next week and follows speculation some Labour MPs could have been in talks to join a new party being created by ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer (Isabel Infantes/PA) More

Starmer says Tories have ‘serious questions to answer’ over Afghan data breachFormer home secretary Suella Braverman has expressed her fury at the cover-up and “failures” of the previous Conservative government over the Afghan data breach.The dataset containing the personal information of almost 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy was released in error in February 2022 by a defence official.It triggered an operation to bring 16,000 Afghans to the UK – and saw an injunction, later upgraded to a superinjunction, issued that banned the media reporting on the leak in a bid to prevent the Taliban finding out.But Ms Braverman has said she opposed the move but was then gagged by the super injunction, which meant she was unable to comment.“What has happened is outrageous and must never happen again,” she said. “We must therefore be very clear about what that was and how it happened.“The cover-up was wrong, the super injunction was wrong, and the failure to stop unwanted mass immigration has been unforgivable. “So, I am sorry: the Conservative government failed you, and its leaders let you down. It wasn’t good enough then. It’s not good enough now.”Your Views | Independent readers react to UK’s ‘shameful’ MoD data breachReactions from readers have been swift and damning, touching on moral responsibility, government secrecy, institutional incompetence, and the human cost of this breach. Many drew parallels with past scandals, while others demanded consequences and urgent reform.Here’s what The Independent’s readers had to say: Jabed Ahmed16 July 2025 15:32Former home secretary Suella Braverman condemns her ex-colleagues for Afghan cover upFormer home secretary Suella Braverman has issued a statement expressing her fury at the cover up of the Afghan data breach and use of a secret route to bring 24,000 Afghans to the UK.Ms Braverman had been under attack from Reform UK because she was home secretary and responsible for immigration during part of the time of the debacle after thousands of names were accidentally leaked in an email from an official.But Ms Braverman has said she opposed the move but was then gagged by the super injunction which meant she was unable to comment.She said: “There is much more that needs to be said about the conduct of the MoD, both ministers and officials, and the House of Commons is the right place to do so. I hope we have the opportunity soon.“What has happened is outrageous and must never happen again. We must therefore be very clear about what that was and how it happened.“The cover-up was wrong, the super injunction was wrong, and the failure to stop unwanted mass immigration has been unforgivable. So, I am sorry: the Conservative government failed you and its leaders let you down. It wasn’t good enough then. It’s not good enough now.“This episode exposes everything wrong with the Westminster establishment. The State apparatus thinks it can hide its failures behind legal technicalities while ordinary people pay the price.“Those responsible must be held accountable, and the system that enabled this cover-up must be dismantled.”David Maddox16 July 2025 15:12Downing Street defends delay in lifting Afghanistan superinjunctionDowning Street defended the Labour Government’s decision to apply for the Afghanistan superinjunction to be extended prior to Tuesday, saying it was right that a full assessment took place before lifting the order.The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There was significant work that needed to be done.“We don’t take these decisions lightly. There are obviously serious issues and serious complexities in relation to this case.“It took time to assess the situation, getting on top of the intelligence assessments, the policy complexities and the court papers, and it was right to do the full and proper work to allow Paul Rimmer the time to complete his assessment.“But obviously, on the basis of Paul Rimmer’s assessment, the Government has supported the lifting of the superinjunction.”Jabed Ahmed16 July 2025 14:54No 10 says there are questions for Tories – but decline to say what those questions areDowning Street insisted former Conservative ministers had questions to answer about the Afghan data breach, but declined to say what those questions were.Asked what questions former ministers should face, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “Clearly there have been serious failures here that have led to this major security breach impacting individuals’ data that wasn’t able to be scrutinised in the way the public would expect.“Now is the time when questions can be asked and answered. The Defence Secretary has set out that process.“And I would also point out that former Tory ministers have been out over the past 24 hours making clear the total incompetence at the top of government in handling this situation and the wider situation in Afghanistan.“Johnny Mercer said this morning, this was just the end of the line of the ineptitude of the Conservative government, it’s clear that they have questions to answer about how they handled this whole process.”Jabed Ahmed16 July 2025 14:39Committee will launch inquiry into data leakThe Commons Defence Committee will launch an inquiry into the Afghan data leak.Committee chairman Tan Dhesi told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “I’m not sure whether a public inquiry will or will not happen, but one thing you can rest assured on is that the Defence Committee has decided that we will be launching an inquiry to ascertain exactly what transpired here, given the serious ramifications on so many levels.“We haven’t set out the exact terms of reference, and we will be doing so straight after the recess as to who we will be calling up and how we want to get to the bottom of what has happened on behalf of Parliament, which, by the way, has been sidelined for too long on this issue, on behalf of the people.”He said it was a “huge concern” that the injunction was in place for more than two years.“I think the fact that there has been no parliamentary scrutiny, that nobody’s been held to account on this is just not on at all.”He said the committee would get into the “nooks and crannies” of what compensation has been given or is proposed to be given to Afghan nationals affected by the data breach.Jabed Ahmed16 July 2025 14:23Badenoch declined a briefing where she would have been told about the Afghan data breachThe Tory leader Kemi Badenoch did not attend a briefing in March in which she would have been told about the Afghan data breach.The Conservatives sent the shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge instead.Ms Badenoch did not use any of her six questions to the prime minister at PMQs earlier to ask about the scandal, which began under the last Tory government.The breach, an email blunder, triggered the evacuation of thousands of Afghans who were brought to the UK under a secret resettlement scheme.Tory sources claimed the March briefing was not flagged as important through the usual channels, meaning the party sent Mr Cartlidge in her place. Kate Devlin16 July 2025 14:12Starmer was ‘angry’ when he found out about the Afghan data leak, No 10 saysKeir Starmer was “angry” when he found out about the Afghan data leak, No 10 has said.Sir Keir Starmer’s press secretary said: “The prime minister is angry at such a terrible breach that had such grave consequences being allowed to happen.”Which is why it’s clear that there are questions that need to be answered by Conservative ministers who, in their own words, have talked about the ineptitude of the Conservative government at the time.”Jabed Ahmed16 July 2025 14:10Ben Wallace takes ‘complete responsibility’ for Afghan leak — but refuses to apologise for superinjunctionMy colleague Archie Mitchell reports: Jabed Ahmed16 July 2025 13:59Watch | Healey: ‘No justification’ for most names in Afghan data leak to claim asylum in BritainHealey: ‘No justification’ for most names in Afghan data leak to claim asylum in BritainJabed Ahmed16 July 2025 13:43Keir Starmer was “angry” when he found out about the Afghan data leak, No 10 has said.Keir Starmer was “angry” when he found out about the Afghan data leak, No 10 has said.Sir Keir Starmer’s press secretary said: “The Prime Minister is angry at such a terrible breach that had such grave consequences being allowed to happen.”Which is why it’s clear that there are questions that need to be answered by Conservative ministers who, in their own words, have talked about the ineptitude of the Conservative government at the time.”Kate Devlin16 July 2025 13:34 More