18 Things Teenagers Can Do BEFORE They Are Allowed To Vote In Elections

Young people gain new rights and responsibilities at different stages of their life. Looking at this list of things they can do before 18, it makes you wonder why voting in elections is one of the very last rights they acquire.

1. Leave home

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You can leave home at 16 without your parent or guardian's permission. You can even emigrate at 17. Perhaps to Austria or Argentina, where 16 year olds have already been granted the right to vote.

2. Pay tax

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"No taxation without representation," the American revolutionaries told us in the 1700s. Three centuries later we still haven't learned. 16 year olds in work will pay tax and national insurance, without the opportunity to vote for those who spend it.

3. Claim benefits

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Despite recent reductions and restrictions brought in as part of the Government's austerity drive, there is still a wide range of benefits people under 18 are entitled to claim.

4. Get married

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With your parent or guardian's permission if under 18. Do it early enough and you'd have enough time to get divorced before 18, too (on some grounds).

5. Join the army

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You can join the armed forces at 16, but can't serve on the front line until 18. In fact, those who enlist before 18 are obliged to serve until they are 22, a longer minimum service than older recruits. The UK is one of very few European countries to allow 16 year olds to join the armed forces, and has been criticised for it by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

6. Receive an Anti-Social Behaviour Order

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You can get an ASBO from the age of 10. Reasons might include vandalism, graffiti, noise or threatening behaviour. Breaching an ASBO can incur a £250 fine for 10-14 year olds, or £1000 for 15-17 year olds.

7. Have sex

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Provided you have a consenting partner also aged 16 or above. There are many countries where the age of consent is lower than the UK: in Germany and Italy it is 14.

8. Play the lottery

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It could be you, from age 16. If you do win the jackpot it's probably best not to blow it all on booze and drugs the way 16 year old Callie Rogers did after winning in 2003.

9. Pilot a plane

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You can pilot a plane from age 17. You can pilot a glider, like Callum Lavender, from age 14.

10. Give consent to medical treatment, including surgery

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People aged 16 are automatically deemed competent to consent to medical treatment, and those under this age can be deemed competent if doctors believe they have sufficient understanding. However, those aged 16-17 cannot refuse treatment if it has been agreed by a parent/guardian or the courts.

11. Drive a vehicle

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You can drive a car, with a license, from the age of 17. You can drive a moped or a small tractor from 16.

12. Be detained in police custody

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Police can hold those under 18 for questioning, without your parent or guardian being present. Those under 17 must have an 'appropriate adult' present if no parent/guardian is there. The police can take your photograph and fingerprints from age 17 without permission.

13. Have an abortion

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If you are under 16, your parents do not have to be informed or give consent, as long as two doctors believe it is in your best interests.

14. Drink alcohol

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You can't buy alcohol before you are 18. But you can drink it on private premises, and you can drink beer or cider in a pub with a meal, if someone else is paying for it (the oldest trick in the book).

15. Give evidence under oath

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Witnesses appearing in court would be expected to give evidence under oath if they are aged 14 or older.

16. Donate blood

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You can donate blood from age 17. For young women aged 17-19, additional height and weight criteria may apply.

17. Get a body piercing

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There are no age restrictions on body piercings. Although it would be a sexual offence for an adult to pierce certain body parts of children under 16.

18. Vote for, or against, Scottish independence

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"They may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" The law has been changed to allow 16-17 year olds in Scotland a vote in the upcoming independence referendum. Let's hope this is the first step to full voting rights.