Lord Tyler, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Constitutional and Political Reform, just before a debate in the House of Lords on whether or not to include 16 and 17 year olds in the EU Referendum, set out his Party’s position on including younger people in the political process.
With particular reference to the coming European Referendum Lord Tyler said: ‘We cannot deny 16 & 17 year olds a say in the future role of the UK, in or out of Europe’.
David Cameron last week described the forthcoming vote in the EU referendum as “a huge decision for our country – perhaps the biggest we will make in our lifetimes. It will be a final decision.”
Naturally, those young citizens who are likely to have to live longest with the consequences may be thought to have the liveliest interest in a poll of this sort. That was the rationale – accepted by the Coalition Government Cabinet – that allowed 16 and 17 year-old Scots to vote in the 2014 independence referendum.110,000 young Scots registered, debated the issues with maturity and responsibility and 75% voted (far more than their immediate elders).
As a Conservative Lord put it ‘how can it be right to allow 16 and 17 year-olds to vote in a referendum on Scotland but not in a referendum on Europe?'”
The House of Lords had earlier voted on two occasions already in favour of 16 and 17 year olds being able to vote in the coming Referendum. But last week, on 14th December, the right-wing Tories packed the chamber with their supporters to finally kick out votes for younger people and to prevent them having a say about their country’s future.
Tring Liberal Democrat county councillor, Nick Hollinghurst said after the Lords defeat, “The message to young people from the Tory government is clear – they don’t trust or respect you. But behind this patronising exclusion of young people there is a deeper cynicism. The Tories have identified two groups of people likely to vote strongly to remain in the EU – the 1.5 million young people and the nearly 2.5 million UK citizens living in EU countries. Both these groups will now be denied a vote in the EU Referendum.”