Theresa May deputy says under-18s lack 'maturity and responsibility' needed to vote

Labour calls Government 'coalition of cavemen' after David Lidington dismisses calls for voting age to be lowered

Young people aged 16 and 17 lack the “maturity and responsibility” needed to vote, the de facto deputy prime minister has suggested.

In a move likely to anger young people demanding the right to vote, David Lidington dismissed calls for the voting age to be lowered to 16.

The Cabinet Office minister and unofficial deputy prime minister was standing in for Theresa May, who is in China, at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, taking the place of Jeremy Corbyn, called the Government a “coalition of cavemen”.

She had asked why the Government refuses to lower the voting age, pointing out that 16-year-olds are allowed to leave home, start a family, marry, work, pay taxes and join the army but are still denied the right to vote.

In response, Mr Lidington said: “The logic of the argument is that she wishes to lower the age of majority from 18 to 16. She listed a number of areas in which she supported the age at which activities should be allowed to 18 on grounds that only then could people be expected to have sufficient maturity and responsibility to have those rights.

“My argument to her is that the age of majority should be set matching both rights and responsibility and I think it’s perfectly to say that from the 18, we entrust young men and women to exercise those rights and responsibilities in full.”

Earlier in the exchange, Mr Lidington said: “The age of 18 rather than 16 is widely recognised as the age at which one becomes an adult, and that is when full citizenship rights are obtained.”

Only a few countries in the world allow people younger than 18 to vote, he added.

But Ms Thornberry referenced The Independent‘s revelation that the number of young carers has rocketed in recent years, saying many of them have to take on great responsibilities but are still denied the right to vote.

Labour has committed to reducing the national voting age to 16. At the weekend, the Labour-led Welsh government announced it would bring forward plans to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in council elections.