UK Voting From Abroad
 

Posted in the Europe forum by Buckinghamshire Boy, but equally applicable to us in Australia:

Originally Posted by BiE
As reported on the BiE website and our social media, we secured funding in November 2022 from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust for a 12-month secondary legislation advocacy project in relation to overseas provisions of the Elections Act passed by the UK Parliament in April 2022. While the primary legislation, the Elections Act 2022, is in place to remove the 15-year rule and give us lifelong votes, it still has to be implemented to take effect and work in practice. Our aim is to ensure the timely and effective implementation so that overseas voters can reclaim their vote in time for the next election - and critically, so that they can use it effectively when they do, given the myriad problems faced by overseas voters in the past.

They now have a survey on overseas voting on their website:

https://www.britishineurope.org/page...iming-our-vote

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

I am all for voters voting but I believe that unless you work and live in the UK and for some exceptions then you should not be able to vote, I would not dream of voting in the Australian elections as it has not direct effect on my life here in the UK and I think it is unfair on peoples living in Australia that I have a say in their every day lives.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

This issue really came to the fore with the Brexit referendum - which had a very substantial effect on Brits living in the EU, many of whom were denied a vote.

And then there are those who (without choice) pay UK taxes - "No taxation without representation!".

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

There are tons of people that pay tax in a country where they don't have a vote though, that's not unique to the UK.

I agree with brits1, I don't think I would expect (or would use) a vote after that amount of time away. It simply wouldn't be fair for me to have any say in the lives of people who actually live in the country, and the idea of people who've not set foot in the country in decades getting a say in how it's run seems crazy IMO. I think votes should be based on residency rather than citizenship personally, seems far fairer to me.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

Methinks you are missing the point. I am one of those "tons of people" paying tax in a country where I have no voting rights.

I have been that way for more than 30 years (although I was eligible to vote in local (commune-level) elections when I lived in Switzerland; but if I had been living 2km distant in the next commune I would have been ineligible). I had to have a 'permanent residence' status for that, but I still could not vote at Cantonal or Federal level.

Haven't looked at my options in Belgium yet, as I haven't yet achieved the five year 'permanent resident' medal.

It is extremely unlikely that I will ever take up residence in the UK again, but it still hurts like heck to see the place being wrecked by (a) the current government and (b) an unfair, outdated, undemocratic electoral process.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

And the point about the Brexit referendum was ignored.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

If you're referring to me, then it was because I don't understand how it had a 'very substantial effect' on Brits living in the EU. Either they were ineligible to vote and therefore had been in the EU for 15+ years and so had residency/citizenship of their chosen EU country, or they were more recent arrivals, in which case they could still have voted in it.

This is JMO remember, no need to take it personally that I disagree with you! But for me, voting in a country I'd chosen to leave many years behind (in some cases, decades and decades previously) wouldn't sit right with me.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

There were several reasons that British citizens living in the EU were affected by Brexit, but it seemed to me that the largest group of issues, diverse as they were, were related to people who were either unwilling or, for one reason or another unable, to naturalize as a citizen of their country of residence, so Brexit pushed them from "resident citizen of EU member", to being a complete outsider.

Issues include many countries not allowing dual nationality, therefore requiring someone to give up their British citizenship, and people who might not have been able to pass a language proficiency test. Also, Brexit effectively locked many British citizens into their current country of residence - a British citizen with established residence in any EU country, post-Brexit has no rights of freedom of movement to live and work within the EU, unless/ until they obtain nationality of an EU member ccountry (or have an EU spouse).

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

It isn't only the actual right to vote that's involved though. Its the simple fact of being on the Electoral Roll, For people moving back and trying to get things sorted in advance being on the Electoral Roll can be a big help in proving identity etc.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

I think your reply is a very fair, balanced and informed comment.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

[QUOTE=BuckinghamshireBoy;13169875]Methinks you are missing the point. I am one of those "tons of people" paying tax in a country where I have no voting rights.

I have been that way for more than 30 years (although I was eligible to vote in local (commune-level) elections when I lived in Switzerland; but if I had been living 2km distant in the next commune I would have been ineligible). I had to have a 'permanent residence' status for that, but I still could not vote at Cantonal or Federal level.

Haven't looked at my options in Belgium yet, as I haven't yet achieved the five year 'permanent resident' medal.

It is extremely unlikely that I will ever take up residence in the UK again, but it still hurts like heck to see the place being wrecked by (a) the current government and (b) an unfair, outdated, undemocratic electoral process.[/QUOTE)

But you do not live in the UK so you truly do not know what it feels like to live and work here in the UK, I still have huge interest in Australia and do care about that country but I would no way interfere with the politics just because I personally did not like a certain government and thought I knew what was best for Australians living and working in Aus especially from my nice life I have here in the UK that would be quite patronising of me methinks.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

Brexit was voted by UK citizens and the vote was “Yes” to leave Europe, true democracy at its best, What more can be said?

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

If I lived to Australia if my own free will and lived my life there and had to choose citizenship then Australia it would be, I had friends in Australia who were from Germany they had left that country when they were 18 and never returned had lived in America, UK and NZ before living in Australia their children had German passports had to queue up every time at passport control (permanent residents) with visitors and had the hassle of every new passport having to make sure their visa was in place, I asked if they would ever return to Germany and they said never but would not become a Aus citizen , they loved Australia was tanned a dark brown every summer which they loved, loved the beaches…everything but said it was a safety net to keep a German passport, some people want their cake etc

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

I may no longer live in the UK, and so not subjected to the day to day "life experience", however I am in very regular contact with family and friends there who live it daily; I watch TV and read news articles from various UK and non-UK sources and I do not believe for one moment that life currently in the UK is quite that "nice" for a vast number of people as you seem to think.

My main motivation is to highlight the need for electoral reform in the UK.

Seriously? As simple as that?

As we're not in TIO, I'd best leave it there.

Re: UK Voting From Abroad
 

Some of whom live in the EU but were unable vote, either by being disqualified or, in our case, not receiving hallot papers in time (which has happened with every election as well) - hardly democracy at its best.