BY ARTHUR GREENHALF

The EU referendum was, I believe, a disaster for young people, but a great irony has appeared amidst the tatters.

Having the Human Rights Acts and innumerable other freedoms and rights stripped from us by those who have enjoyed them for decades has led to the current generation of 16 and 17 year olds becoming incredibly pro-EU.

A poll conducted on the day the referendum result was revealed by website and forum the Student Room found that 82 per cent of people aged between 16 and 17 would have voted remain.

But it’s not just to spite the referendum or to “stick it to the establishment” - we have every right to be angry.

When Scotland voted on whether to remain in the United Kingdom 16 and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote, but when our country made one of the biggest political decisions in recent history we weren’t given a second thought.

As young people, we will feel the impact of leaving the EU for the longest, as we’ll have to live with the consequences.

While others have spent scores of years enjoying fundamental rights such as those to religion and not to be tortured, we must drift into a terrifying void without pleasures like knowing that the government can’t kidnap us.

Remember the whole £350 million to the NHS every week slogan? Well, in the autumn budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that Brexit will cost £58.7 billion.

Why didn’t we get a voice in this decision?

We were abandoned by the entire country and now we’ve plunged into social and economic chaos. Why were we silenced and kept unable to vote in this historic decision when it would impact us so greatly?

And can you expect us not to be Europhiles, looking at what’s happening now?