Petition · past parliament

Allow 16 and 17 year old citizens to vote in the proposed 2nd EU referendum.

Rejected 19 signatures

What the petition asks

The outcome of the Britain's EU membership referendum will have arguably the most significant impact on the future of our young people and children, yet existing voting roles exclude UK citizens aged below 18 years from participating in the voting process.
In the Scottish independence referendum, 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote, thus it is only fair and democratic that 16 and 17 year olds be allowed the vote in a UK-wide referendum of arguably even greater significance. This petition supports the petition for the 2nd EU referendum; allowing 16 and 17 year olds to participate would make the outcome more representative than the 23rd June referendum and might also provide a more decisive outcome.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

The EU referendum has already taken place. It is therefore no longer possible for the franchise (the groups of people who are entitled to vote) to be changed.

If you would like the UK voting age to be lowered to 16, you might like to sign this petition instead:

Reduce the legal voting age to 16

Timeline

24 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
28 Jun 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 19
Status Rejected
Rejected 28 Jun 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.