Cabinet minister David Lidington said young people lack "sufficient maturity" to vote at 16, as he stood in for Theresa May during Prime Minister's Questions.

Labour's Emily Thornberry branded the Government and its DUP allies as a "coalition of cavemen", when she asked why 16-year-olds were denied the right to vote when they are able to get married, leave school and join the armed forces.

It comes as Downing Street reprimanded a Justice minister who questioned whether Brexit should go ahead if damaging assessments of Britain’s economic prospects are accurate.

In an unusual and hugely significant intervention, Dr Philip Lee asked whether Theresa May could “legitimately lead a country along a path that the evidence and rational consideration indicate would be damaging” after leaked papers laid bare the potential economic damage of withdrawal.

After Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour’s opposition day motion – calling on the Government to release the papers – also passed after the Government ordered its MPs to abstain on the motion.