Controversial 15-year Voting Restrictions for Expats Set to be Lifted by 2020

Controversial 15-year Voting Restrictions for Expats Set to be Lifted by 2020

Little to late for Brexit voters

The law is changing and now expats will be able to register to vote even if they’ve been abroad for over 15 years. The change is expected to come into effect by the election in 2020.

While the change came a little too late to potentially prevent the Brexit, the British government have confirmed that they plan to scrap the 15-year rule that prevents long-term expats from voting in British general elections and referendums.

The decision to remove the barriers to voting in time for the 2020 election was made last Friday. The change means that any British national will have the right to have their voice heard in the next general election; regardless of how long they have been living in Spain or abroad.

The current rules were quite controversial as they denied British citizens the right to vote if they had been living outside of the UK for over 15 years. The rule was called undemocratic by critics. There were also people who defended the rule; saying that people who had abandoned their country for so long had no right to say how the country should be run.

It looks like the government has decided to accept that the rules were indeed unfair. They issued a policy statement called “Democracy that Works for Everyone” in which they stated that they do indeed plan on scrapping the rule.

Constitution Minister Chris Skidmore said that overseas electors still contribute to British society and that they should still have the right to vote. He added that the government intends to give these people the right to register to vote quickly enough to get them voting in the 2020 election.

MP Skidmore continued to say that there is more to being British than just living in the UK; British people are British citizens no matter where they live. He added that these Britons abroad still kept their strong cultural and social ties with Britain and their families at home while they continue to build businesses abroad. The decisions that are being made on British shores affect British citizens the world over, many of whom plan to eventually return to the UK in the future the MP said in a column he wrote for the Telegraph newspaper.

The 15-year rule has become particularly pertinent in recent years. Then-PM David Cameron promised to scrap the rule in the 2015 general election. It is a move that proved to be a vote winner but, after the election was over, he clarified that the rule would not be scrapped before the planned EU referendum. It is unlikely the referendum would have passed if the rule had been scrapped by then, so perhaps this was a move Mr Cameron regrets now. The referendum was pretty close and many living abroad in Spain  would have likely voted to remain, which would potentially have given the Remain camp the votes they needed to win.

While many expats will likely feel that the rule change is a little too late, many will welcome the scrapping of such an unpopular policy. It could even potentially lead to more people leaving the UK as they know that their vote will still count now.

Whitehall Blocks Expat Voting Rights Change to Maintain 15-Year Rule

Whitehall Blocks Expat Voting Rights Change to Maintain 15-Year Rule.

Its a sad state of affairs that Britain continues to keep outdated laws 

Long-term British expats living in Spain and all over Europe who are hoping to be able to vote in British general elections will no doubt be disappointed by the decision Whitehall took to reject the proposed changes to the 15-Year Law. David Cameron promised to get rid of the controversial 15-Year Rule that said expats who had lived outside of the country for over 15 years could no longer vote in general elections. It seems like his promise has been overturned by the new government that replaced the former Prime Minister.

Whitehall ministers have said they feel that changing the law would be too complex and will instead be maintaining the status quo now that David Cameron, who pledged to change the rule as part of his 2015 election manifesto, is no longer in charge. The change was also intended to enable those expats to vote in the EU Referendum. With that in the rear-view mirror politicians see the rule as less of an issue now.

Cameron made the promise when he called out for long-term expats to vote for him and his Conservative Party during the last general election. The promise went on the backburner after Cameron secured his second term. Instead Cameron chose to make his promise of an EU Referendum a priority.

The irony of this choice is that if Cameron HAD changed the law before the Referendum then he could still very well be in power and the UK would likely still be part of the EU as those expats would most likely have voted, and voted in their droves, to stay in the EU.

The Daily Mail is reporting that the issue is once again being put on the shelf now that Cameron has gone and the UK is attempting to avoid the Brexit and it seems the wave of brits wanting to move to places like spain is even on the up!  Geoffrey Clinton-Brown, one of the campaigners who hoped to change the law, believes that civil servants dislike the idea of difficult changes. Whitehall say that one of the difficulties in changing the rules is that electoral registers are only kept for 15 years. As such it would become difficult to find out which constituency these long-term expats used to live in. Cliff-Brown believes that this just an excuse to stall the issue.

The U-turn is actual a contradiction of the Tory party line they’ve been touting for over two years. The former Party chairman Grant Shapps said that British citizens are Brits for life. They will always have the right to be protected by the military and travel on a British passport and that the Tory party believes it should also give them the lifelong right to vote.

The Daily Mail is also reporting that a former Foreign Office Minister has now admitted that making the change would be more complex than it was first thought it would be. This difficulty, combined with the lack of political will by the government, has left many expats unable to vote with no change in sight.

The Commons Leader David Lidington says that the matter is more complex than it appears. The change would mean having to create a new system of voter registration which is difficult because of the lack of voter registers from over 15 years ago. The government would need to find a way to allocate people to constituencies and then prove that they lived where they say they did.

Clifton-Brown is refusing to accept any of their excuses. He says that it shouldn’t be too difficult for people to provide some evidence that they used to I've where they say they did. There are many ways to do this including doctor’s notes, passport numbers, and National Insurance notes. He believes any of these can, and should, be used as proof of address.

One thing is for sure, Brits will still keep moving out of the UK to southern Europe regardless whether they can vote or not as the healthier lifestyle and the cost of living in places like spain coupled with the amazing 320 days of sunshine will always temp people away from the wet and dismal uk.