European Union Referendum Bill

Lord Higgins Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taverne (LD)]

My Lords, when the whole question about the voting age came up and the suggestion was made that it should be reduced to 16, I had considerable doubts about it, for the sorts of reasons that have been advanced by a number of people, in quite reasonable speeches, who are opposed to the change.

However, the fact is that there have been a number of inquiries into this and most also turned out to be very doubtful. First, there was the 2004 commission which qualified its recommendation that the voting age should remain at 18 by saying:

“We propose further research on the social and political awareness of those around age 18 with a view to undertaking a further review of the minimum age for electoral participation in the future”.

Then there was the Power report in 2006 which recommended that the voting age should be lowered to 16, explaining:

“Our own experience and evidence suggests that just as with the wider population, when young people are faced with a genuine opportunity to involve themselves in a meaningful process that offers them a real chance of influence, they do so with enthusiasm and with responsibility”.

It came to the opposite conclusion to what I had felt earlier, that someone of 16 might not be sufficiently informed or use their vote sufficiently responsibly at 16.

Then came the Youth Citizenship Commission of 2007 which did not recommend a reduction of the voting age. It found that there was in fact a majority in favour of lowering the age but it thought the sample was too small, saying:

“This is a relatively small and not necessarily representative sample of the population”.

So there was a diffidence about the commission’s recommendations because of a shortage of evidence. The commission went on to say:

“We have found that there is a real evidence gap”.

However, there is no longer an evidence gap. We have had experience from a very wide sample and everyone has found that people in the lower age group deserve praise for the way they approached their task. They found them very responsible and very keen to get the right information. The general feeling was that this lowering of the voting age had been an enormous success. I think that the Scottish referendum has completely altered the situation because this gap in the evidence which the previous commission spoke about has been filled.

There is one other consideration which we should take into account. One of the serious consequences of a vote for Brexit in the referendum is that it will almost automatically lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom. If Scotland votes for staying and England votes for leaving, I cannot see that there will not be another referendum. One has to consider Scottish reactions very carefully. If I was a young person in Scotland—that would have been some time ago—I would be furious if I was allowed to vote in the Scottish referendum but not in the referendum which is of even greater importance if it involves the whole of one’s future. The same position may obtain in Wales because Wales may well decide as well to lower the voting age. If one really wants to keep the United Kingdom together I do not think one wants to confront young Scottish voters and others in Scotland who will be equally adverse to it. That only increases the chance of the break-up of the United Kingdom. The evidence is now plain that young people act responsibly and that they care about the information; the evidence should suggest that there must be a change in the law.

[Lord Higgins (Con)]

My Lords, I am not in favour of these amendments and I think it would be very naïve to suppose that if we accept them we will avoid a slippery slope as far as the age of consent is concerned, along with the many other issues that have been raised. If that kind of change is to be made, rather than being pushed into it by the precedent of what happened in Scotland it is very important we should have an overall view of the whole issue in a Bill which is publicised and which allows the public to express their view on all these issues. The Government are right to say they will use—with very minor exceptions—the same franchise as was used in the very recent local election.

Many noble Lords have been over this course before. I remember very well when I was in the House of the Commons that the issue of lowering the voting age came up. I said to my secretary that if I got a single letter—at that time I had an enormous mailbag—from someone in the lower age group saying they would like the vote, then I would vote for it, but if I did not get such a letter I would vote against it. I did not get such a letter. In this day and age we are not inundated to the same extent with mailbags. Instead we are inundated with emails. I wonder how many Members have had an email from someone in the age group which the proposal would enfranchise saying that they would really like the vote. I have not had one. I have had enormous numbers of emails but not one like that. That is because this issue has not been publicised. This has become an internal view of the House of Lords and we are not taking other arguments sufficiently into account.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Faulks]

My Lords, Amendment 10, in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, and the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Newnham, and Amendment 13, in their names and those of the noble Baroness, Lady Royall of Blaisdon, and the noble Lord, Lord Dykes, would extend the franchise to EU citizens who had resided in the United Kingdom for five years or more. Amendment 15, in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Liddle and Lord Davies of Stamford, would also extend the franchise to EU citizens but would not impose a minimum time period for residency in the United Kingdom.

As has been pointed out, many EU citizens have made the United Kingdom their home and made significant contributions to life in this country. No one would wish to deny that but this is of course a vote about the future of the United Kingdom in Europe, so we say that it is right to use the parliamentary franchise as the basis. As my noble friend Lady Anelay explained at Second Reading, we are following the standard practice across Europe. As far as we are aware, no other European member state extends the franchise for referendums to citizens of other states—and there have been many such votes over the last four decades.

The noble Lord, Lord Hannay, spoke about the exceptional circumstances of this poll. This is an exceptional poll in some respects but it is not the only one with significant constitutional ramifications. Referendums in Europe have dealt with the ratification of EU treaties or the currency that a nation should use. These are not trivial issues, albeit that the noble Lord described them as less consequential. Even so, it is said that this is different as it deals with membership. But there have in effect been other in/out referendums: 17 EU member states held referendums about whether to accede to the European Union. Most recently, the Croatian people were asked in 2012. Others have voted not to, including Norway, while in 2013 the people of San Marino voted not even to apply. So far as we can tell, not a single one of those extended the decision to citizens of other states.

Noble Lords in effect suggested that the franchise should extend to include those EU citizens because they are affected by the results of the vote. This argument has its attractions but I respectfully suggest that it does not withstand careful scrutiny. First, why should this test apply only to EU citizens? Yes, the large French community in Kensington or the Portuguese in Stockwell will be impacted to some extent by the decision, but why should it stop at the United Kingdom borders? Surely Spanish citizens in Madrid would feel the effects of Britain leaving, as would the Maltese in Valetta or the Poles in Warsaw. The United Kingdom is a major global power and the EU is the world’s largest market with a population of over 500 million. If the United Kingdom left, a great many people around Europe would be affected to a greater or lesser extent. That hardly means they should all get a vote. Let me respectfully suggest that it is not enough simply to look at who is affected by a vote in order to decide who should take part. Furthermore, the United Kingdom would feel quite deeply the impact of further enlargement of the European Union. That does not mean that in future United Kingdom citizens should be able to vote in an accession referendum in Turkey or Albania or anywhere else that might join the European Union. We need to start elsewhere. That is why the Government brought forward proposals building on the general election franchise and that is the appropriate starting point for a decision of this kind.

As for the five-year residency threshold, the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, and the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, propose in Amendment 13 that it should be given to those who have resided in the United Kingdom for five years or more. This is a much more nuanced amendment than the other one. I wholly understand the noble Lord’s intention for this five-year threshold. No doubt many EU citizens who have settled here for many years feel a connection to the United Kingdom and the noble Lord is saying that we should give them a vote in the poll. Of course the longest resident requirement for EU citizens in order to qualify to apply for British citizenship is five years of lawful residence. After being free of immigration time restrictions for 12 months, an EU national can then apply for naturalisation to become a British citizen. So many EU nationals who meet the noble Lord’s threshold will be able, and have chosen, as the noble Lord, Lord Collins, pointed out, to take up British citizenship. I am sure many choose not to but that does not undermine the point that the option is open to them. Secondly, I draw attention to the practicality of identifying those who fall within the threshold. The franchise for local elections does not include any time limits on residency. Implementing such a limit would therefore be much more complex and time-consuming than simply using the local election franchise.

The noble Lord, Lord Davies, suggested it is unfair to exclude EU citizens when those from Malta, Cyprus or Ireland are included. I respectfully do not believe there is any actual inconsistency here. The inclusion of these three member states is not related to their position in the European Union. It is because Malta and Cyprus are part of the Commonwealth and there is a history of reciprocal voting rights, as between the United Kingdom and Ireland. The inclusion of Commonwealth and Irish citizens in the Westminster franchise is a long-standing part of the country’s constitution and it reflects the historical ties shared between the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. This is a legacy of the Representation of the People Act 1918—the same legislation that extended the vote to women. We could hardly include some Commonwealth citizens and not others in the franchise. Of course there is a requirement of residency; I need hardly say. It would not be right to start unpicking the constitutional relationship between the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Finally, noble Lords will want to reflect very carefully on how this change would look to the public. I entirely accept the point the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, made that this is not intended to affect the Westminster franchise but I return to the point that I made in relation to the first group of amendments, a point also made by my noble friend Lord Ridley. It is of fundamental importance that this vote is not just fair but seen to be fair. To appear, however innocently and whatever the reality behind the reasons, to be altering the franchise to change the result in some way risks undermining the effectiveness of the referendum. No doubt partly for these reasons, the proposals to include EU citizens in the franchise were rejected by large majorities in the House of Commons.

The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, asked whether I could help the House with how many EU citizens were actually on the electoral register. The statistic I have is that there are approximately 2.7 million EU-born citizens resident in the United Kingdom. The source for that is the World Bank’s estimate of migrant stocks in 2010, as updated by the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs in 2013. I will endeavour to answer that question between now and Report; how successful I will be, I am not sure, but I will certainly endeavour to do so.

I was also asked what would be the consequences for EU nationals were the referendum to result in the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. As the House will know, the Government are confident that they will successfully negotiate a change in the relationship with the European Union and that the Prime Minister will then ask the country to confirm that we should remain a member of the European Union—albeit on somewhat changed terms. So what might happen to these EU citizens is entirely a hypothetical question, but noble Lords may well conclude that it is most unlikely that they would simply be cast loose, as it were, as is suggested.

[Lord Higgins]

I have been listening very carefully to the debate. Perhaps I may leave a thought with my noble friend. If the unfortunate circumstances arose where it turned out that the result was determined by this particular group or an accumulation of groups which have been controversial, that would obviously raise the question of whether the vote was valid in some people’s minds. Is it not therefore important that we should have a very clear definition of what majority is needed to deal with this situation?

[Lord Faulks]

I think my noble friend is referring to the possibility of some form of threshold. That is not part of the Government’s intention by the Bill. The point he alludes to is important, which is the risk, at least, that if EU nationals are given the right to vote—however cogent the reasons may be because of their participation in our national life—and the vote results by a narrow majority in our staying in Europe, the result of the vote may not command the same confidence that I am sure that all in your Lordships’ House want the referendum to command. In those circumstances, I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.