Argument there to repeat referendum

sIr, – I am writing with reference to the referendum which was held in June 2016 to let the British people decide whether or not Britain should remain within the EU. The result, by a fairly small majority, was that we should leave.

However, when we examine the result in some detail, we find that voters aged between 18 and 24 voted 71% to remain and 29% to leave, whereas with voters over the age of 55 the result was almost the exact opposite, 35% to remain and 65% to leave.

This poses the question ‘is it fair that people approaching retirement age, some of whom will already have their pensions in place, should have the right to deny to young people the benefits of Britain being a member of the EU’: benefits which they themselves have enjoyed for over 40 years?

Although Brexiteers will try to prevent it, because they have nothing to gain and everything to lose, once the conditions attached to leaving the EU become clear, we should be given the opportunity to say, through another referendum, whether or not we want to continue with Brexit – and since it seems that the views of the older generation as expressed in the last referendum influenced the decision to break away from the EU, in order to create a degree of balance between the generations, the voting age should be reduced from 18 to 16 years.

This would give those most affected by the result some say in the outcome. William G Murray, Kirkton Farm, Golspie, Sutherland