Brits In Spain Need to Speak Out Soon or Miss Their Chance With EU Referendum Vote

Brits In Spain Need to Speak Out Soon or Miss Their Chance With EU Referendum Vote

The numbers may be shocking but it’s worth taking another look at them. There are currently just 283,000 Brits officially registered as a Spanish resident with the padrón. This number is small because it’s only around one quarter of the actual Brits living in Spain. Of this number only 11,000 of them are still registered to vote in the UK.

These are statistics that should worry every Brit with an interest in politics outside of the motherland. It doesn’t matter if they are in Germany, Spain, France or anywhere else in the European Union. They need to correct this oversight.

Brits in Spain need to register their vote

David Cameron recently told the European Commission his plans to renew the terms of the UK’s membership of the EU. He set out a series of reforms, proposals and promises that he would offer British people to entice them to stay in the EU. The vote will still be left to the British people though and a referendum vote could happen as early as June.

Nobody is quite sure what the so-called “Brexit” would do for the EU or Britain itself. There is one thing for sure though. If the British leave the EU then it makes things difficult for the millions of Brits who are already outside of the UK and living elsewhere in the EU.

This is why the British emabassies in Spain and France have launched awareness campaigns to get Brits living there to go and register to vote in the referendum. It’s called the Your Vote Matters campaign and, given how much they will be affected, it’s hard to argue with the name.

Foreign Office Data suggests that only 5% of overseas voters have registered to be involved in the referendum. Other embassies, such as those in Germany, Ireland, Poland, Austria and Denmark are getting involved and using social media to further the awareness campaign.

The British Ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley, met with a community of expats living on the Costa del Sol to show his support for the campaign.

He said that even though expats are interested in the referendum not enough of them are really aware of it. He urged the expats to become more aware about the referendum and how they can get involved. They can register to vote through the government website (www.gov.uk) and you should encourage other people you know to do the same.

Brits who have been abroad for less than 15 years are able to vote through the constituency they used to live. It is pretty simple to register from overseas but it can take longer than most people realise.

This is why expats with properties inland Spain and elsewhere are being encouraged to visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. They should have their passport with them and their previous UK postcode ready to speed up the process.