In 1963 , when Screaming Lord Sutch entered the political field as the Leader of the Teenage Party, the voting age was 21. Sutch campaigned for it to be 18 and in 1966 Harold Wilson’s government extended the voting franchise to 18 year old’s. In 1983, now as leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party , Lord Sutch argued that if you could marry, pay tax & join the army at 16 then you should be allowed to vote at 16.
As part of the EU Referendum Bill, the House of Commons debated extending the voting franchise to 16/17 year olds in an in /out  (shake it all about) EU Vote (albeit some 32 years after the OMRLP had first proposed the idea) . Referendums come along once or twice in a lifetime unlike General Elections, held every five years, most sensible MP’s recognise that 16/17 year olds should be given a voice on their future, much as Scotland did with the Yes/No vote .
I was saddened to read in Hansard that all three of the Worcestershire MP’s voted against extending the voting franchise to 16/17 year old’s , especially Harriet Baldwin , she hardly needs me to remind her that 98 short years ago she would not have had the vote let alone be in the position to deny 1.5 million 16/17 year old’s the same rights. Like Mrs Baldwin, Mr Walker & Mr Huddleston remain tight lipped as to why they do not trust the youth of this county and so we draw our own conclusions. Although happy to pose with young people on the electioneering trail and address schools and academies about ‘the democratic process’ it appears they did little other than follow the party line as the motion was defeated by 45 votes.
At 16 you can consensually sleep with your MP but not vote for him/her, and they call us Loonies.
Baron Fullstop.