This question will now go to the Commons, which can try and overturn it and send the bill back to the Lords-so-called “ping pong”.
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Ahead of the Lords vote on allowing 16 and 17 year olds the vote in the EU Referendum, Liberal Youth member Isabelle Cherry, who’s 17, says why this is so important to her.
The prime minister’s spokeswomen said the government has set out its position and indicated that Mr Cameron will not back down to offer younger people the vote.
The scale of the defeat in the unelected upper chamber – by 293 votes to 211 – was larger than expected.
“It is inappropriate to try to change the nation’s electoral franchise through the backdoor of this Bill”.
“We cannot say young people should be permitted to vote at 16 because they are more aware and mature and then push up the age to 18 for nearly everything else they can do”, he said.
“The House of Commons has voted on three occasions in recent months against dropping the voting age from 18 – including overturning a Lords amendment just yesterday”.
Labour’s Baroness Morgan of Ely said: ‘This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for them to vote on this significant issue.
“At 16 they are taking life-changing decisions on the future direction of their lives, they are deciding on which A-levels to take, or which vocational courses to follow, and if they find someone they want to marry they can even do that”, she said.
But Tories lined up to condemn the idea, claiming it was being used to “tilt the whole playing field” further in favour of the pro-EU campaign, because young people were more likely to vote stay in.
Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, which in unison with Labour is forming a formidable Lords opposition to the Government, said: “The Liberal Democrats have been fighting for this for decades, and we are winning the argument”. “This is a victory for democracy”.
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‘In this instance they will possibly never again get a say in their country’s future relationship with the European Union, but they will have to live with the consequences of that decision for longer than any of us’. “The Government must now listen and act, Cameron can not turn his back on 1.5 million young adults”.
