I agree, but the restriction was always there for those of us who live outside the UK.
AFAIAA we still get to vote in any referendums that may happen, as we did previously.
Eh? You got to vote in the Brexit ref? I didnât and was told very specifically that I couldnât. I am hopeful that the restauration of my national voting rights will include any future referendums.
Yes, the inability to vote in UK local elections once you were no longer resident was indeed always there.
But used to be made up for in France/ EU, by the perfectly reasonable ability to vote here in local elections where we are resident and pay tax. Which we have now lost.
Should have been protected at Brexit.
And we note carefully how the UK government has provided national voting rights to those abroad but no constituency. So concerns of the British particularly in the EU who are no longer in a local constituency - such as the UK government honouring commitments in a fair manner - cannot be voted on by those affected.
In contradiction to the position the UK has adopted about no access to local elections, for some strange reason our voting in national elections that we are allowed, mysteriously still does depend, on being registered in a local constituency that theyâve already told us we are not entitled to vote in âŠas weâre not still resident there.
I went back to UK to do so, as hadnât been here 15 years in 2016 so had the right. Waste of a eurostar ticket!
Wither democracyâŠ
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It was clearly a gerrymandering hack as a result of the minister asking his civil servant for suggestions to avoid overseas voters becoming a coherent separate constituency.
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Gosh yes - I imagine the thought of an âMP for Overseas Britsâ asking awkward questions in Parliament on a daily basis did not endear itself to our Lords and MastersâŠ
Yes, and I have mentioned before I think that Anna Soubry (spit) used to be our MP and when I sent a letter to her to enquire about something or other she didnât reply directly but had a minion write a curt note that she was not allowed by law to speak to anyone who was not a constituent.
Funny that. At the last election the LibDems openly nominated their candidate in Cheltenham to be the representative for all European resident British voters.
And before that, our Labour MP, Nick Palmer went above and beyond in harrying everyone on our behalf in a dispute about Franâs pension. Ended up with full restitution plus 3 years interest on the backlog. Sadly he got turfed out by the horrible Soubry.
I imagine the thought of an âMP for Overseas Britsâ
I think the French, and maybe the Yanks, have such a thing, donât they?
She was the President of the Studentâs Union when I was at Birmingham many moons ago - busy politicking even then. I didnât know her personally.
It seems they have eleven Députés!! Vive la France!!
It is only a recent thing though.
There is also a question of scale, over 5 million Brits of voting age live outside of the UK.
Since each UK MP represents 92,000 people, that should mean 54 (and a third) MPs for overseas UK citizensâŠ
Yes, as @JaneJones did - I hadnât lost my UK vote by then ; still within the 15 year rule that was law at the time.
Itâs sad not to have my local or EU vote here anymore, thanks to the result of that act of national self harm that was inflicted in 2016.
Itâs actually 73K so that would mean an extra 68 MPâs which is beyond mad. They would have to use the French model and do it by certain geographical areas rather than a set number of constituents.
I used the figure for residents not voters. But having one MP would be nice.
Oh I see, the way I read it was that you had not lost that right. But I agree, the greatest loss I felt was my local rights here and in the EU. I even felt that the EU could have done more to include its most ardent fans, as Guy Verhofstadt suggested.
I know it has been said that it would not be possible due to us losing our EU citizenship, but it is obviously not impossible to make it work. You only have to look at the Irish citizens long resident in the UK for instance. Not sure all, or even any, of those have bothered to become citizens.
So what % of MPâs would we be then? seems quite a high one.
And perhaps our elected MP could operate a surgery locally., or even tour the constituency occasionally
I see the logic of your comparison David, but I think the UK-Eire freedom of movement is a long-standing thing that goes back to the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 - initially it had the same status as Canada as a Dominion of the British Empire (until 1931) so Irish citizens were still technically British citizens.
Irish people retain a lot of special privileges similar to Commonwealth citizens but more extensive - they can even be elected as MPs, and receive peerages and sit in the House of Lords!
Vice-versa British citizens can still move to Ireland without any formalities post-Brexit, and the ETIAS EU visa thing wonât apply to travel to Ireland form the UK when it kicks in in 2025.
I understand all that Chris, I was merely pointing out that nothing is impossible and where there is a will there is a way. I must admit to some feelings of betrayal by the EU at the time, we had proved our loyalty and belief in the Union simply by being here as permanent residents and had had that taken away from us without, in many cases, been allowed a say in the matter.
As too:
Vice-versa British citizens can still move to Ireland without any formalities post-Brexit, and the ETIAS EU visa thing wonât apply to travel to Ireland form the UK when it kicks in in 2025.
Does that mean that British citizens living in Eire for the quallifying time, if there is one, but do not take up Irish citizenship; will again be allowed to take part in EU elections?