A major obstacle to David Cameron’s hopes of staging his promised referendum on European Union membership next summer has been removed after peers backed off from a demand that 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to take part.
An opposition attempt to enfranchise younger voters was narrowly defeated in the House of Lords – a month after the upper chamber supported the move by a large majority. MPs have already voted three times for the age to remain at 18.
If peers had refused to back down, Westminster could have faced a prolonged session of “parliamentary ping pong”, scuppering the Prime Minister’s hopes of getting the EU Referendum Bill on the statute book by Christmas.
The call for registered 16 and 17 year-olds to be given a referendum vote was rejected by 263 votes to 246, a majority for the government of 17.
Ministers had argued the move to lower the voting would cost £6m and threatened to invoke “financial privilege”, which gives the Commons automatic supremacy over issues involving public money.
But the Labour peer Baroness Morgan of Ely argued that the unique circumstances of the referendum offered a unique opportunity to involve 1.5m more teenagers in “one of the greatest political questions which will be put to this country this century”.
She said: “Young people are the future of this country, this is their one chance to have a say in the country's relationship with the EU. It’s an exceptional vote.”
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