The second reading of the EU referendum bill today was dominated by questions about the voting franchise and the neutrality of Whitehall. On the first topic, the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Greens expressed concerns that 16 and 17 year olds won’t be allowed to vote. The SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond said it was ‘deeply insulting’ not to include under 18s in the referendum, while shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said there was a ‘ring of familiarity’ to denying younger ‘uns the vote — a reference to similar arguments used in the past to deny women the vote.
Whereas the voting franchise is unlikely to stop the bill from moving forward, the lack of purdah is looking to be more problematic for the government. Usually in the run up to an election, the civil service is prohibited from publishing any material that could bias the outcome, so the whole machine remains neutral.
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