[Mr Peter Bone in the Chair] — Votes at 16

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 10:03 am on 6 May 2014.

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Photo of Mark Field Mark Field Conservative, Cities of London and Westminster 10:03, 6 May 2014

My hon. Friend has set out the case well. To touch on what my hon. Friend Guy Opperman just said, does he share my concern that there is a lot of cynicism involved in the argument? The perception of the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats is that they will reap some electoral dividend by being modern and allowing 16-year-olds to vote, yet there is little good evidence to suggest that the voting age should be reduced, other than the idea that those political parties will benefit from the votes of that young age group and that those of us who take the hopefully more balanced view that it is not necessarily in the interests of the electorate to be extended in that way will suffer from being seen as old and fuddy-duddy.