OXFORD WEST and Abingdon MP Layla Moran has accused the Conservative party of 'filibustering' a debate on votes at 16.

The private members' bill brought about by Labour MP Jim McMahon was debated in parliament today and proposed bringing down the voting age from 18 to 16 in UK parliamentary elections, local elections and referendums.

Ms Moran, a staunch supporter of the bill said she was 'disgusted' by the government's arguments calling them 'condescending and out of date'. 

She told the Oxford Mail: "The Tories talked it out, the chair felt there wasn't enough debate for it to go to a vote, which was a deliberate move from the Tories and completely despicable."

"There's a broad consensus from five opposition parties to lower the voting age - so it could still happen within five years with a change of parliament, or maybe even before that."

Mr McMahon, also said that MPs on the Government benches had spoken at length during an earlier debate “to reduce the amount of time” given to the second debate.

The debate saw both sides heckling each other, which caused the Deputy Speaker, Eleanor Laing to intervene telling the MPs "Order! Order! Order! This is not a football match."

Ms Laing eventually ruled that not enough time had passed for MPs to have a vote on the Representation of the People (Young People’s Enfranchisement and Education) Bill as MPs had fewer than 90 minutes to debate. 

Ms Moran wanted to reassure 16 and 17-year-olds that they will debate the bill again, with it due to have a second reading on December 1. 

She said: "The Tories kept saying we protect people until they're 18, because they can't drink or smoke or gamble, and I agree with those points, But what they're missing is that they can opt out of voting, you can't opt out of the law, no one is going to force 16-year-olds to vote.

"Politics is changing and young people are more active. Some of the government lines were hugely patronising to young people. 

However, Ms Moran urged young people who support the bill not to give up hope. 

"There's a few backbench Tory MPs who support it, and with the hung parliament, this is exactly the kind of thing that the government could lose, which is why they talked it out and why they didn't want it to go to vote.

"The debate before, on the force in mental health units, was hugely important. But everyone agreed on it and the same points kept being repeated, which left no time for this debate."