Labour call for 16-year-olds to be able to vote in EU referendum

One of Labour’s election promises was to give 16-year-olds the vote as early as 2016. Now, the party look set to call for the government to give 16- and 17-year-olds the vote in the EU referendum.

A Labour source said that young people have a “tremendous vested interest in whether or not we stay in the EU or leave.” This amendment to the referendum bill could have strong support in the Lords, even if it doesn’t on the government benches in the Commons because the number of Labour and Lib Dem peers far outnumber the Tories.

Under current plans, David Cameron wants the electorate for the referendum to be more-or-less the same as in the general election. People living in Britain from elsewhere in the EU will not be able to vote (they can only vote in local and European election at the moment).

However, the Labour along with the SNP have said they want 16- and 17-year-olds to be allowed to vote in the referendum, which is set to take place in 2017.

This comes after Harriet Harman changed Labour’s position on the EU referendum – this was a measure the opposed prior to the election but that they now support. A spokesperson told the Guardian the party would support the voting age amendments to the bill which will be introduced to the Commons on Thursday.

However, the SNP also want to make it so that “unless England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each vote to leave the EU, as well as the UK as a whole, Britain would remain a member state”. This is a measure both Labour and the government are both opposed to.