Cynical Corbyn in viral ‘votes at 16’ plot to harvest data
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 on the internet with the help of activists at pro-Corbyn grassroots group Momentum.
In one 60-second clip 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, get married and join the Army. Yet young people are denied the right to vote. We cannot allow this Conservative government to deny one-anda-half million young people their full rights as citizens.’
When the issue was being discussed in the Commons this month, Mr Corbyn tweeted eight videos featuring shadow ministers and MPs.
Tory MPs who argued against lowering the voting age were accused in follow-up 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 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 party website where they are invited to sign a petition, giving their names, email addresses and postcodes.
It admits the party and its candidates ‘may contact you using 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 could contact them with election messages in the run-up to polling day.
Momentum has its own site, 16andvoting.com, to collect personal information.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said last night: ‘It is trendy to be Left-wing when you are young and Labour probably thinks they are gullible enough to vote for them.’
In Scotland, 16 and 17-yearolds were allowed to participate in the 2014 independence vote, with around threequarters saying they turned out for the referendum.
The Scottish Government has consistently backed plans to lower the voting age. In 2015 Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: ‘It is a long-standing policy of this government to lower the voting age to 16 where we can.’
Last night a Labour spokesman said: ‘Giving 16- and 17year-olds the vote would strengthen our democracy.
‘We will campaign with young people to ensure their voices are heard.’
‘Full rights as citizens’
‘Gullible enough to vote Labour’