Just 50 years ago today 18-year olds in the UK were given the vote. Before then only those 21 or over had the right. It seems almost unbelievable that it took so long: 18-year olds had gone to war for the country, they had paid taxes that contributed to the establishment of the NHS, they had been marrying and having families. And yet it took until the 1960s to give them the vote.
Half a century later and the same disenfranchisement persists. In the 2016 EU referendum and the latest general election – two of the most pivotal electoral decisions for generations – those most affected were silenced before they got to the ballot box.
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