Anderson made the admission in secretly-recorded comments at a meeting of Tory supporters.
Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson is terrified at the prospect of giving 16-year-olds the vote because it will ‘kill off the Tories for generations’.
Anderson made the admission in secretly-recorded comments at a meeting of Tory supporters. It shows once more how the Tories are keen to prevent younger voters having a say.
The Labour Party has said that it will reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 if it wins the next election. Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has previously said that proposals to expand the voting franchise are “something we will look at”. Speaking in May, Reynolds told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “I think there are arguments for expanding the franchise, it’s not an area I directly deal with in the shadow cabinet. I’m not going to give a definitive answer on that, but I think we should always be seeking to involve as many people as possible in our democracy.”
In September, a Labour party spokesperson said: “At the age of 16, many young people are paying taxes, working, and engaging in all parts of society — it is right that they get a say in who governs them.”
Speaking at a ‘Lagers With Lee’ event at Cambridge Rugby Club, a leaked recording shows that Anderson said reducing the voting age would guarantee the Tories would be unable to form a government for decades.
He said: “The Labour Party will bring in votes for 16-year-olds. I’m convinced they will.
“Now if they do that, you might as well just rip your memberships up now, because you’ll never see a Conservative, not in my lifetime, again.
“If you bring in voting for 16-year-olds we’re done for, you know, for generations.”
According to the Sunday Times, Anderson also claimed that the right-wing Reform Party had offered him “a lot of money” to defect to them.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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