CYNICAL CORBYN’S VOTES AT 16 PLOT
Labour uses web videos for voting age campaign in brazen attempt to lure teenagers
LABOUR is using a campaign to lower the voting age to harvest the contact details of thousands of young people.
Jeremy Corbyn and his hard-Left supporters have been bombarding youngsters with videos about enfranchising 16- and 17-year-olds. Posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the short films have been viewed by more than 1.5million people.
They are being circulated across the internet with the help of activists at the pro-Corbyn grassroots group Momentum.
In one 60-second clip that has been viewed at least 522,000 times on Facebook, Mr Corbyn warns: ‘For too long the political establishment has excluded young people from our democratic process.
‘At 16 you can pay tax, even get married and join the Army. Yet young people are denied the right to vote and have their say on decisions that affect them.
‘We cannot allow this Conservative government to deny one-and-a-half million young people their full rights as citizens.’ In another, which has been viewed 438,000 times, viewers are told: ‘It seems a bit weird that 1.5million 16- & 17-year-olds can’t vote right? Well, that could all be about to change. We think it’s about time 16- & 17-year-olds had a vote. And we need you to spread the word.’
When the issue was being discussed in the Commons this month, Mr Corbyn tweeted eight videos featuring Labour shadow ministers and MPs. Tory MPs who argued against lowering the voting age were accused in followup videos of sabotage.
In one film, seen 321,000 times on Facebook, Labour’s spokesman for young people Cat Smith said: ‘The Tories once again have demonstrated to a generation of young people that they don’t take your views seriously and that you should not have your say over your future.’
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott wrongly claimed in her video that 16-year-olds can fight for their country. She said: ‘I believe in votes at 16. If you are old enough to fight for your country you are old enough to vote.’ A teenager can sign up at the age of 16 but they would not be able to go into combat until they are 18, the Ministry of Defence says.
Labour has been using the videos to direct viewers to a special party website where they are invited to sign an online petition, giving their names, email addresses and postcodes. It admits the party and its candidates ‘may contact you using the details you provide’. Signatories aged 16 and 17 will be able to vote by the time of the next scheduled election in 2022.
By harvesting their information, Labour will be able to contact them with election messages in the runup to polling day.
Momentum has its own site to collect people’s personal information called 16andvoting.com.
It is the latest example of Labour’s ability to mobilise its supporters and reach far more people via social media than other political groups can. The Tories spent £1million on social media adverts during the election campaign, most of them attacking Mr Corbyn.
Despite this, it is believed that Labour’s messages – backed up by Momentum – had far more reach, even though the party had less money to spend.
Ahead of June’s election, Theresa May said that the Conservatives would not lower the voting age to 16 if they won.
‘You have to pick a point at which you think it is right for the voting age to be. I continue to think it is right for it to be 18,’ she said.
A private member’s bill to reduce the voting age was debated in the Commons earlier this month, but no vote was held. It will return to the Commons to be discussed further on December 1. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said last night: ‘I’m not surprised that Labour want 16-yearolds to have the vote, they will not have any memory that a Labour government can do to the country and the economy.
‘It is trendy to be left wing when you are young and Labour probably thinks they are the sort of people who are gullible enough to vote for them. We know that the over-65s overwhelmingly vote Conservative, because they have got the wisdom of years.’
A Labour spokesman said: ‘Giving 16- and 17-year-olds the vote would strengthen our democracy. The response to our campaign has been fantastic – a sign of the enthusiasm from young people. We will continue to campaign with young people to ensure their voices are heard.’
‘Have the wisdom of the years’