Nigel Farage would clean up under Labour’s plan to reduce the voting age to 16, poll reveals with Keir told ‘be careful’
NIGEL Farage would clean up under Labour’s plan to lower the voting age to 16, polling shows.
His Reform Party would hoover up almost a quarter of all 16 and 17-year-olds – second only to the support for Sir Keir Starmer.
The social media-savvy Brexiteer is a TikTok phenomenon with a mammoth 815,000 followers – more than double that of the Tories and Labour combined.
A survey of 16 and 17-year-olds by JL Partners reveals 39 per cent would back Labour if they could vote on Thursday, followed by 23 per cent for Reform.
The Greens would get 18 per cent, the Lib Dems 9 per cent, and the Tories a paltry 5 per cent.
Former No10 pollster James Johnson said: “The Reform surge seems to be on: with voters who can’t yet vote.
“Nigel Farage’s party is clearly cutting through with younger people, and especially young men.
“Labour dominates amongst 16 and 17-year-olds overall, but Keir Starmer might want to be careful what he wishes for.
“By giving the vote to 16-year-olds, he is handing Nigel Farage plenty of votes too.”
Mr Farage is especially popular with teenage men and is tied with Labour on 35 per cent in that category.
But he is much less popular among 16-17-year-old women, who break 43 per cent for Labour, 12 per cent for Reform, 33 per cent for the Greens and zilch for the Tories.
Mr Johnson said: “One thing is for sure. Giving the vote to 16-17-year-olds helps Labour lock the Conservatives out of power.”
Rishi Sunak has said Sir Keir’s policy of enfranchising around 1.6million more people is tantamount to “rigging” the electoral system.
The PM has also claimed that if handed a “supermajority” Labour would also extend full voting rights to EU citizens and prisoners – something the party has vehemently denied.
Mr Sunak also turned his fire on Reform today, imploring voters flirting with Mr Farage to back him on July 4.
He said: “A vote for anyone including Reform is just a vote for Keir Starmer in number 10 and I have been consistent about that from the first day of this campaign. I have said the same thing every single time.
“For people who care about their taxes being cut, migration being controlled, and their pensions being protected, and us having a sensible approach to net zero, you are only going to get that by voting Conservative.”
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