The 8 reasons why votes at 16 could backfire on Keir Starmer

Britain is about to embark on a bold experiment, granting 16-year-olds the right to vote in Westminster elections. The consequences could be profound - with teenagers about to have a say on your taxes and your pension. Here are eight ways the new cohort of voters may make their presence felt.

For decades parties have targeted voters who think hard their tax and mortgage costs before casting a vote. Teenagers will now have a say on which party should set the country's tax rates - and they may well decide older voters should pay a greater chunk of their income to the state to fund the services they want to use.

Labour is already suffering from a reputation for high taxes after Rachel Reeves's last Budget which delivered the shock increase in National Insurance Contributions. Sir Keir will find it harder to push against demands for wealth taxes if millions of teenagers are pushing for the rich to make a bigger contribution.

Social media is already a political battlefield but every serious candidate will attempt to reach young voters by using whatever apps are in fashion at the next election. There will be greater concern that ever about "misinformation" being spread online.

The Liberal Democrats' Sir Ed Davey enjoys performing attention-grabbing stunts and Reform UK's Nigel Farage has more than a million followers on TikTok. If Sir Keir leads the party into the next election he will have to compete with these meme-makers.

There will be suspicion in Tory ranks that lowering the voting age is a Labour wheeze to allow Left-leaning young people to cast a vote. At the last election, Ipsos found Labour had its highest share of the voter among 25-34 year-olds (47%).

But Sir Keir Starmer's party may have little appeal for young radicals who want something bolder.

Green Party candidates will hope that teenagers who want much dramatic action on net zero will cast their first votes for them. If Jeremy Corbyn does lead a new party, it will also reach out to young idealists.

However, teenage voters may also decide to give the traditional parties of power a shock by voting Reform.

If you can be trusted with a vote at 16, why should you be denied the chance to stand for election? Ambitious youngsters will argue that for their voice to be heard in the House of Commons they need to do more than cast votes - they need members of their generation on the green benches.

Sir Keir's reform risks looking half-hearted if young citizens are barred from Westminster.

Voters who are wondering whether it is worth going to university will demand the return of free tuition fees and generous grants. If the country needs skilled workers to prosper, they will argue it should invest in their education.

Why, they will ask, does the state provide free education up to the age of 18 but force young people into debt for earning a degree?

Labour ended the era of free university tuition on Tony Blair's watch. The Chancellor will make it clear to the PM there is no spare cash to fund Scottish-style free higher education.

Teenagers love their grandparents but as they confront a ferociously competitive jobs market they may ask why older citizens are guaranteed state pension increases of at least 2.5%. It is already under attack from economists so champions of this protection against old age poverty need to make the case for it continuing to cash-strapped young voters.

Sir Keir has already antagonised this powerful voting bloc (who are much more likely to take part in elections than younger citizens) by taking away universal entitlement to winter fuel payments. His bridge-building exercise will be even harder if young activists want to rein-in spending on senior citizens.

Many charities are appalled at the cuts to foreign aid to fund increased expenditure on defence. Campaigners will push young people to demand a reversal in the cuts, appealing to their idealism and desire to fix a broken world.

Sir Keir has led European efforts to ramp up defence spending and will not want this opposed at home. Young voters may accuse him of deserting the globe's poorest citizens.

A visit to a school is now chance for an MP to get face to face with first-time voters. In a tight election, the young people asking difficult questions could swing the result.

Ambitious politicos cannot afford to turn down an invitation from a headteacher to be grilled in a classroom. The challenge for Labour candidates is they are now defenders of the status quo - and by the time of the next election pupils may be hungry for change.