Young people who show that they are responsible could be given the chance to take on the rights of adulthood early under proposals being considered by Conservative leader David Cameron.
Mr Cameron said on Monday that the confusing array of legal ages for different activities should be simplified to provide a nationally-recognised "rite of passage" into adulthood.
And he welcomed the idea, floated by the Young Adult Trust (YAT), that youngsters who had demonstrated their responsibility could be allowed to do things such as drive a car, open a bank account or go to the pub at an earlier age than others.
Speaking at the launch of the YAT in London, Mr Cameron said: "In Britain today, there's a wide and confusing range of ages at which the law gives you the right to do certain things.
"You can get married at 16, but you can't drive until you're 17. You can buy a gun when you're 17 but you can't buy fireworks until you're 18.
"There's a strong case for clearing up some of the confusion and moving towards greater uniformity in age-related legislation."
The Tory leader was launching a series of national two-week residential courses run by the YAT, an independent charity set up in response to his call for a programme to engage young people of school-leaving age and give them a sense of "purpose, optimism and belonging".
He said that, over time, completing a YAT course could come to be seen as a recognised "stamp of adulthood" for young people in Britain.
And he added: "The Young Adult Trust will be investigating a more interesting idea: formally linking rights to responsibilities.
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"The idea is that you can achieve 'early adult status' if you have shown, through completing a programme like the Young Adult Trust, that you're a responsible adult citizen."
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