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A historic lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16 could be enacted before the next general election, a senior Conservative predicted today.

Sir Peter Bottomley said there was “growing” support among Tory MPs for the reform, which is currently opposed by Theresa May’s Government. “It’s a question of when rather than whether it is going to happen,” the former minister told the Standard.

Asked if there was enough backing for it to be made law in the current Parliament, the veteran MP said: “I think it would probably carry. Labour would vote in favour of it, so would every minority party and a growing number of Conservatives support it.”

A number of senior Tories recently made public calls for voting at 16 — a move urged by this newspaper in November. But Theresa May’s de facto deputy, David Lidington, ruled it out two weeks ago, implying 16 and 17-year-olds lacked the “maturity” to decide.

Former education secretary Nicky Morgan announced on the Conservative Home website that she is backing a Private Members’ Bill tabled by Labour MP Peter Kyle to fix a new voting age. She said today’s 18 and 19-year-olds, who were denied a vote in the 2016 EU referendum, were “furious that their futures have been decided by those aged over 70”.

She added: “Embracing votes at 16 would demonstrate to the next generation that the Conservative Party has something to offer them. Just as the Conservatives both delivered on and then fulfilled Votes for Women, it is time for us to take the next pragmatic leap forward and get on with Votes at 16.”

Putney MP Justine Greening, who left her post as education secretary last month, said she was open to the idea and urged Mrs May to consider it.

Scottish Tory MP John Lamont said he would be “pleased” to see 16-year-olds vote: “Having seen how 16 and 17-year-olds positively contributed to the Scottish independence referendum, the Scottish Conservatives came to a view that they should be allowed to participate in future votes.

“The level of engagement was extremely good, and in schools especially the level of debate was excellent. We’d be pleased to see them involved in elections across the UK.”

Sir Peter said first-time voters would be 18 on average at a general election if the age was cut to 16: “Anyone who has listened to Youth Parliament debates at Westminster cannot say that these young people are incapable of deciding who should be their MP or, indirectly, form their government.”

In the Commons recently, Labour’s Emily Thornberry said 16-year-olds were allowed to leave home, start a family, marry, work, pay taxes and join the army ... but not vote. She called the Government a “coalition of cavemen” for rejecting change.

But Mr Lidington said: “The age of 18 rather than 16 is widely recognised as the age at which one becomes an adult.” He said Labour wanted to ban under-18s from operating a sunbed, making a mockery of their stance.