STUDENTS who spent a week dedicated to learning about Parliament decided against lowering the voting age when it came to a referendum.

The youngsters from Richmond School and Sixth form had visits from local politicians MP Rishi Sunak and Baroness Harris, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, before casting their votes on whether the voting age should be reduced from 18 to 16.

Teacher Clare Clish said Mr Sunak was involved in lively debates on many subjects including Brexit. He told the students that in the last general election 80 per cent of over 70's voted, compared to just 50 per cent of 18 to 25 year olds and he felt more attention should be focused on encouraging them to vote before considering lowering the age limit.

Sixth Form leaders, Daisy Cooil, Ben Clarke and Joe Mawer organised assemblies presenting arguments for and against the proposal to lower the age limit with the majority turning it down.

Headboy Ben Clarke said: "Parliament Week was a great success. It was a busy week for the Government, which provided a lot of ammunition for questions put to Rishi Sunak MP when he gave students a talk. I was surprised by the referendum, especially as the older students voted not to lower the voting age."

The school has a strong association with Parliament, former pupil Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, was Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834.

Mr Sunak said: "I very much enjoyed my visit during Parliament Week. I was mightily impressed by the questions posed by the sixth-formers, many of whom are clearly very interested in politics. They asked me exactly the sort of probing questions I would have expected if I was being quizzed by one of the country’s top political journalists."