Votes for ALL expat Brits, not just for some
British expats the world over are incensed by the fact that they are deprived of the right to vote in British national elections after they have lived abroad for more than 15 years. Of course the countries where they live won't allow foreigners to vote, which leaves millions of law-abiding British citizens arbitrarily disenfranchised, despite their continuing close interest in UK affairs.
To fight this issue on behalf of disenfranchised British expats across the world, the British Community Committee has launched the campaigning website www.votes-for-expat-brits.com which we urge all British expats to visit. It explains the current legislation and what is needed to change it, along with details of two important court cases currently challenging the government before the High Court in London (James Preston) and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (Harry Shindler).
The site also asks you to sign up and show your support. On the sign-up page you can read the comments made by various British expats who want the law changed.
In recent years the BCC has spoken out on expat voting rights and the need to abolish the arbitrary 15-year rule – notably at the Europe on the Move meeting organized by the French Assemblée des Français de l’Etranger at the Quai d’Orsay in 2008, the follow-up meeting at the Italian Senate in 2010, organized by the General Council for Italians living Abroad – and now on the global www.votes-for-expat-brits website.
The European Union and the Council of Europe consistently call on their member states (which include the UK) to end this kind of discrimination against their expat citizens.
So please visit www.votes-for-expat-brits and sign up. You can use the site to e-mail Mrs.Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner in charge of these matters, Mark Harper MP, the Minister for Political and Parliamentary Reform, or to e-mail your MP. Yes, you do have an MP, in the last constituency where you lived – the offending legislation only stops you registering to vote, it doesn’t strip you of your MP!
