the age at which you can vote in the uk is 18.
the age at which you can vote in the uk is 18.
at what age can you vote in uk?
18
today the house of commons is the primary organ of representative government. the representation of the people act 1983 section 1 gives the right to vote for mp in the house of commons to all commonwealth citizens, and citizens of the republic of ireland, who are over age 18, and registered. sections 3 and 4 exclude people who are convicted of an offence and in a penal institution, or detained under mental health laws. these restrictions fall below european standards, which require that people who are convicted of very minor crimes (such as petty theft or drug offences) have the right to vote. since 2013, everyone has to register individually to vote (for instance, at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote), instead of households being able to register collectively, but an annual household canvass is conducted to increase the number of registered people. as far back as 1703,"ashby v white" recognised the right to "vote at the election of a person to represent him or [her] in parliament, there to concur to the making of laws, which are to bind his liberty and property" as "a most transcendent thing, and of an high nature". this originally meant that any interference in that right would lead to damages. if the denial of voting would have changed the result, or if a vote was "conducted so badly that it was not substantially in accordance with the law" the vote would have to be run again. so, in "morgan v simpson" the court of appeal declared that an election for a greater london council seat was not valid after it was found that 44 unstamped ballot papers were not counted. these common law principles predate statutory regulation, and therefore appear to apply to any vote, including elections and referendums. election spending is tightly controlled today by statute. a maximum of £20 million can be spent by political parties in national campaigns, plus £10,000 in each constituency. political advertisements on television are prohibited except for those in certain free time slots, although the internet remains largely unregulated. any spending over £500 by third parties must be disclosed. while these rules are strict, they were held in "animal defenders international v uk" to be compatible with the convention because "each person has equal value" and "we do not want our government or its policies to be decided by the highest spenders." foreign interference in voting is completely prohibited, including any "broadcasting" (also over the internet) "with intent to influence persons to give or refrain from giving their votes". donations by foreign parties can be forfeited in their entirety to the electoral commission. domestic donations are limited to registered parties, and must be reported, when they are over £7,500 nationally or £1,500 locally, to the electoral commission. the system for electing the commons is based on constituencies, whose boundaries are periodically reviewed to even out populations. there has been considerable debate about the first-past-the-post system of voting the uk uses, as it tends to exclude minority parties. by contrast, in australia voters may select preferences for candidates, although this system was rejected in a 2011 united kingdom alternative vote referendum staged by the cameron-clegg coalition. in the european parliament, voters choose a party from multi-member regional constituencies: this tends to give smaller parties much greater representation. in the scottish parliament, welsh assembly and london assembly, voters have the choice of both constituencies and a party list, which tends to reflect overall preferences best. to be elected as an mp, most people generally become members of political parties, and must be over 18 on the day of nomination to run for a seat, be a qualifying commonwealth or irish citizen, not be bankrupt, found guilty of corrupt practices, or be a lord, judge or employee of the civil service. to limit the government's practical control over parliament, the ministerial and other salaries act 1975 restricts higher payment of salaries to a set number of mps.
united kingdom constitutional law
the three main nationwide pro-european parties standing in the election, liberal democrats, greens and change uk, wished to treat this election as a "soft referendum" on europe. commentators, such as marina hyde, raised the concern of a split vote among pro-remain parties reducing the number of pro-remain meps being elected. vince cable, the leader of the liberal democrats, proposed standing joint candidates with the greens and change uk on a common policy of seeking a second referendum on brexit, but the other parties rejected the idea. change uk's co-founder chuka umunna confirmed the lib dem approach, but he and change uk interim leader heidi allen dismissed concerns of a split remain vote. independent mep julie girling, then supporting change uk, said she had decided not to stand for re-election as a change uk candidate because of the concern about maximising the remain vote. on 10 may, she endorsed the liberal democrats. change uk and girling clarified that she had not been and was not a change uk mep, with girling saying she sits as an independent mep. on 15 may, david macdonald, the lead candidate for change uk in scotland, switched to endorsing the liberal democrats in order not to split the pro-remain vote. on 22 may, allen said that she and another change uk mp sarah wollaston wanted to advise remain supporters to vote liberal democrat outside of london and south east england, but they were overruled by other party members.
2019 european parliament election in the united kingdom