Two student officials at Burton and South Derbyshire College have thrown their weight behind a campaign to lower the voting age to 16.
Ben Wenham and Chloe Tinsley, both aged 17 and currently student council presidents at Burton and South Derbyshire College, are backing a cross-party bid to allow 16 and 17-year-olds the vote.
Currently, a person has to be 18 to vote in a general or local election, but a Private Members' Bill is set to be unveiled in the House of Commons on Friday, November 3 which could see a rethink.
The move is backed by a number of parties, including Labour, but Prime Minister Theresa May has already said she favours the status quo.
Mrs May said in July: "We expect people to continue in education or training until the age of 18, and I think that is the right point for the voting age."
Chloe Tinsley said: "We need the vote, I just don't think it's fair that our generation isn't able to vote for who is going to run our country and the decisions that are going to affect our future. I just don't think it is right that the majority of us don't get our say."
Ben Wenham said: "There are so many things you can do when you are 16, yet you can't vote for your MP who makes those decisions for you.
"They could decide whether or not you can go into the military, but you can't choose who makes the decisions for you, and I think that's just not right, someone else is deciding our future for us."
Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, Heather Wheeler said she opposed the stance of lowering the minimum age.
Mrs Wheeler said: "I do not agree with lowering the age of voting. I think that the age of 18 is appropriate, people leave home at that age, some people get jobs at that age or go to university at that age – it's just the appropriate age.
"I seem to recall that it used to be 21 before you could vote and even 30 before that, but I have monitored it over time and I certainly think that 18 is the most appropriate."
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The campaign to lower the voting age has been backed by the British Youth Council, the National Union of Students and the Electoral Reform Society.
Ben said: "I definitely think younger people should be better educated about politics, but not in a way where they're not going to be bothered about it. It needs to be interactive, it needs to be funny and interesting, instead of making it seem boring which some of it really can be.
Chloe said: "I think some of it can be quite patronising sometimes, which you want to avoid. I think that makes this difficult, but again there are always ways so I don’t see why that should stop us."
