I think he means that you only retain the right to vote (usually by post) in UK elections for 15 years once you have ceased to be UK resident.

Thanks for that Fred.

Shame, I thought for a moment that I'd just become non-existant, which no doubt would have sorted a thousand and one problems in one fell swoop,

Fred's right, that is what I meant
I dunno, on a quiet day you go and have a meal and it all happens............


France IIRC altered their rules and you retain the right to vote until you die, but the UK still has this 15 year rule, despite an Eu Rights case involving a guy in Italy who has been out of the country longer than 15 years.
Don't know where it comes from, but if you are British then I would have thought you would retain your right but Ho Hum

`

Well, sort of. I left the UK when I was 13 (rather obviously not having 'the vote'). As an adult, I wasn't registered, nor registrable, in a British constituency, so the 'fifteen year rule' never applied for me. Despite being a good European bunny, I was never allowed the vote, in the UK or in Spain, until 1995 for the European elections (which is, as we know, not much use if you are an extranjero) and 1999 for the right to vote in a municipal election in Spain. I was 46 years old in 1999. So, naturally, I voted for myself in a local party (where I ran 4th on the lista). Our candidate, un valenciano, became mayor, too. (Heh!)
Curious fact - Felipe Gonzalez, then president, wanted the foreign Europeans to vote in the 1995 local elections in Spain, and it was his 'Ministro de la Presidencia', one Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (the guy who took away our Residence cards a few years back), who wouldn't allow it, fearing we would all vote for the PP. A jackass.

Prompted me to register as an overseas voter.

http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/registe...ng_abroad.aspx