Lowering the voting age to 16 could counter rising apathy with the political system, according to Charles Kennedy.

The Liberal Democrat leader argued on Tuesday that voter disengagement, particularly among the young, needs to be tackled imaginatively and radically if a repeat of the dismal general election turnout was to be avoided.

Speaking at Westminster Day 2002, organised for his party's youth and students, Kennedy said there was something wrong with the political system when the election turn-out is so low.

"The worrying thing about last year's general election was how few people turned out to vote. Contrast that with the five million plus people who voted last weekend in the Pop Idols poll.

"I think you'd engage a lot more people in the political process if you allowed them to vote younger. And it would also make politicians pay far more attention to the needs and opinions of people in their late teens," he said.

"You're allowed to marry when you're sixteen. You can join the army. And you can pay tax. Why shouldn't you be able to vote too?"

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who also spoke at the event, announced plans for the party's first youth spokesman, Charles Hendry.

Hendry, a whip, has revealed the party is considering tax breaks for young people in their first job but will not unveil a raft of youth-appeal policies. Instead the leadership will "listen harder than before" to the views of people under 30.