Mansfield and Ashfield still likely to vote leave despite big increase in new young voters

By the end of the year, more than 6,000 teenagers will have become eligible to vote in the Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood districts since the Brexit vote, data reveals.
Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood all voted leave in the referendum.Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood all voted leave in the referendum.
Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood all voted leave in the referendum.

But despite three-quarters of youngsters casting ballots in favour of remain in 2016, experts believe leave would win again in Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood if a second referendum was held.

That's because, in 2016, Mansfield voted in favour of leave by 70.9 per cent to 29.1 for remain - a margin of 23,500 votes.

It was the same story in Ashfield where leave got 69.8 per cent of the vote compared to remain's 30.2 per cent - a difference of 26,500 votes.

Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood all voted leave in the referendum.Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood all voted leave in the referendum.
Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark & Sherwood all voted leave in the referendum.

The margins were also decisive in Newark & Sherwood where leave polled 60.4 per cent of the vote to remain's 39.6 per cent - a margin of 13,900 votes.

The People’s Vote campaign says there should be a fresh poll on EU membership so these youngsters’ futures are not decided for them.

New Office for National Statistics data shows the number of attainers, people who turn 18 and become eligible to vote, by December 1 this year.

By the end of this year, it will be more than three years since the EU referendum, by which time, were there ever to be a second referendum, there will be 1,992 new eligible voters in Mansfield, 2,528 in Ashfield and 1,777 in Newark & Sherwood.

This estimate is calculated by combining the attainers for the last three years, and half of those who came of age in 2016.

New voters are seen as likely to vote remain and nationwide polls suggest almost three quarters of 18 to 24-year-olds would vote to stay in the EU in a second referendum.

Across the country, more than one million teenagers will have become eligible by December. In 2016, 1.26 million votes decided the referendum.

For our Future’s Sake (FFS), a youth movement in the People’s Vote campaign, believes there should be a second referendum to allow new voters to have their say.

Kira Lewis, from FFS, said: “Like hundreds of thousands of other young people, I watched helplessly as my future was decided for me.

“A whole generation were deemed old enough to drive, serve in the armed forces and get married, but not trusted to make a decision on our futures.

“We now know the costs to our economy and our sovereignty - whatever deal Parliament decides.

“It is right and fair that young people - and the rest of the country - get an opportunity to have their say in a people's vote."

In the most recent round of indicative votes, held on April 1 in the House of Commons, 280 MPs voted for a confirmatory second referendum and 292 voted against it. A further 66 abstained.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has said she opposes a second referendum, as 'the public has made its decision'.