The Electoral Commission has recommended that the minimum age for all levels of voting at UK public elections should remain at 18 years, but that the minimum candidacy age should be reduced from 21 to 18.

Party Response: Conservatives

Charles Hendry, shadow minister for youth affairs, said: "We welcome the findings of the report. It has been the most thorough investigation on this issue for many years; we are particularly pleased that the findings are exactly in line with the submission that the Conservative Party made.

"Conservatives believe that the voting age and candidacy age should be standardised at 18. Such an age is widely accepted as signifying a major turning point in one’s personal development, marking the time when a young person becomes an adult.

"Opening the door to younger elected representatives – such as 18 year old councillors – will do far more to re-engage young people in politics and create a new tier of representatives who can champion the issues that young people are concerned with."

Party Response: Liberal Democrat

Matthew Green, Liberal Democrat spokesman for young people, said: "If 56 per cent of MPs think that the voting age should not be cut it is just another indication of how out of touch they are. Perhaps these MPs should get out of Westminster a bit more and actually engage with young people.

Forum Response: Electoral Commission

Sam Younger, chairman of the Electoral Commission, said: "The evidence from the review suggests that while many young people under 18 would feel ready to vote, there are just as many who feel that 16 is too young. 

"The majority of the representative cross-section of young people responding to the ICM research made it clear that they don’t feel ready for the responsibility of voting at 16 and that has helped inform our recommendations."

Forum Response: Local Government Information Unit

Dennis Reed, chief executive of the LGIU, said: "It is unfortunate that the Electoral Commission is not recommending that 16 and 17-year olds should enjoy democratic rights that reflect their responsibilities. 

"Some of the reasons given for sticking with the existing voting age are extremely dubious. In particular, the idea that reducing the voting age would produce a short term fall in voter turnout demonstrates that a range of causes of low electoral turnout need to be tackled. This is exactly what the LGIU and others have been saying. It is a poor and defeatist reason not to proceed with votes at 16.

"By their own logic, the Electoral Commission should consider raising the minimum voting age to 60, given that the tradition of higher turnouts among older voters would see the turnout figures look artificially better!

"There is also an ill-thought out notion from the Electoral Commission that they want to explore the idea of different minimum voting ages for different elections, as if some elected positions are more valued than others.

"As welcome as the recommendation on candidature at 18 is, votes at 16 remains one essential step among many needed to reinvigorate local democracy. The LGIU has never been carried away with the over-zealous idea that votes at 16 alone will transform the landscape. Along with all the new methods of voting being pioneered, there must also be other radical reforms across two broad areas.

"Firstly, the unnecessary and often petty barriers that prevent or discourage people standing for election need to be removed. One example is as the draconian political restrictions on many public sector workers from participating in local politics.

"Secondly, we must ensure that local elections become important again by making councils more influential locally and giving the young and not-so-young reasons to vote.

"This means rejecting the idea of scattering public service functions amongst numerous single purpose boards, tackling the unelected quango state and ensuring that the development of regional government means more devolution and not more centralisation. The local authority finance issues that are currently up for discussion are also central to the power of local government. Having most council finance raised locally would be the real leap forward for local democracy."

Forum Response: National Youth Agency

Tom Wylie, chief executive of The NYA, said: "This refusal to propose reducing the voting age, will draw a further divide between young people and the democratic process. Politicians will continue to be able to sideline the needs and concerns of younger voters and to play to an adult gallery about the anti-social behaviour of the few.

"Lowering the voting age is essential to help shape public services for the benefit of more of our citizens - the man in Whitehall does not always know best, and the young would be quick to say so! The young car mechanic we trust to fit our tyres correctly still will not have a say on how the taxes on his or her still too meagre wages are spent."