Should 16-year-olds get to vote in the next election?

Miliband promises to lower voting age, but opponents say 16-year-olds 'don't have the same stake in society'

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(Image credit: 2013 Getty Images)

Ed Miliband has reiterated his commitment to lowering the voting age to 16 if his party wins next year's general election. "It's time to hear the voice of young people in our politics," the Labour leader said at his party's conference this week.

His views were echoed by Alex Salmond after 16- and 17-year-olds were able to cast their vote for the first time in last week's Scottish referendum. He told The Guardian that they had "proved themselves to be the serious, passionate and committed citizens we always believed they should be" and that was now an "unanswerable case" for it to be extended across the UK.

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