Petition · past parliament
Lower the voting age to 16. Educate the electorate. Call new EU Referendum.
Rejected
14 signatures
What the petition asks
1. The EU Referendum was perilously close at 52%, yet the 16-18 age group likely to be most affected in the long term were not able to vote.
2. Due to misinformation by campaign groups, to register to vote one must pass a short test to demonstrate knowledge of basic relevant facts about the EU.
2. Due to misinformation by campaign groups, to register to vote one must pass a short test to demonstrate knowledge of basic relevant facts about the EU.
The voting age is 16 in the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey (three self-governing British Crown Dependencies).
The test that the electorate should be required to pass before being able to vote should:
a) be short
b) have it's content approved by both leave and remain campaigns
c) be neutral, impartial, non-leading etc
d) not be designed to reduce the number of people able to vote, but to ensure that they are sufficiently aware of basic, key facts about what the EU is and how it operates etc
The test that the electorate should be required to pass before being able to vote should:
a) be short
b) have it's content approved by both leave and remain campaigns
c) be neutral, impartial, non-leading etc
d) not be designed to reduce the number of people able to vote, but to ensure that they are sufficiently aware of basic, key facts about what the EU is and how it operates etc
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
Timeline
| 25 Jun 2016 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 8 Jul 2016 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
14
Status
Rejected
Rejected
8 Jul 2016
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.