In a historic vote yesterday, MPs backed a Brexit deal for the first time since the start of the negotiations with Brussels. However, it was a short-lived triumph as only 20 minutes later, lawmakers voted against the Prime Minister’s timetable to get the bill through the Commons – meaning the Prime Minister’s hopes of the UK leaving the EU on October 31 are all but dashed. Mr Johnson is now expected to demand a general election, if he is forced into a three-month delay by EU leaders.

Britain could then be headed to the polls before Christmas and, according to the latest surveys, the Conservative Party is 15 points ahead of Labour.

Despite the promising outlook, according to former Conservative MP Ken Clarke, Remainer MPs are plotting to use an electoral change that would significantly lower the Prime Minister’s chances of winning at the polls.

The veteran MP warned that MPs will want to reduce the voting age to 16 to hurt Mr Johnson’s chances of gaining a majority in a general election.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Clarke said: “They’re desperate to fight this election.

“People will want to reduce the voting age to 16 for a start.

“But I think a lot of people are thinking a lot of other ingenious things they could put in.

“With scope, there are a lot of things for approving the deal.”

Host Nick Robinson said: “So, in other words, if he [Mr Johnson] thinks a simple solution is a one-line bill to get an election, Parliament’s going to make his life hell.”

Mr Clarke added: “Yes, he should get rid of all these people.”

If MPs decide to lower the voting age, the risk of the Tories not gaining a majority appears to be high.

Theresa May might have not become Prime Minister if 16 and 17-year-olds had been able to vote at the last election.

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A Daily Mirror modelling of the 2017 election shows that if 16 and 17-year-olds were able to vote, Labour could have gained seven seats from the Conservatives.

The model used data from the Office for National Statistics to get estimates for how many potential extra young voters there were in each constituency in England and Wales.

YouGov asked more than 50,000 people how they voted after the 2017 election and found that 66 percent of 18 and 19-year-olds voted Labour across Britain.

YouGov, which accurately predicted a hung parliament with the Conservatives as the largest party, also found that 57 percent of this age group turned out to vote.

A 2017 report by the Mirror reads: “If we assume the same numbers for 16 and 17-year-olds, that would mean an extra 443,000 votes for Labour compared to just 128,000 for the Tories.

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“This would be enough to change Southampton Itchen, Thurrock, Chipping Barnet, Hastings and Rye, Pudsey, Preseli Pembrokeshire and Calder Valley from blue to red.

“Home Secretary Amber Rudd would have lost her seat in Hastings and Rye according to our model.

“This would have meant the Tories and DUP combined wouldn’t have a majority in the House of Commons.

“Another nine Conservative MPs would have seen their majorities slashed by at least 50 per cent.

“Our model only looked at England and Wales because we don’t have accurate data on how young people in Scotland and Northern Ireland voted.”

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