Wednesday 24 April 2019

Campaign response – Let Us Vote campaign



Recently a number of constituents have written to be about extending the right to vote to UK residents who do not hold UK citizenship and UK citizens who are no longer residing in the UK.

I agree that UK citizens who live abroad ought to be given the right to vote. They are currently entitled to be registered to vote in UK Parliamentary elections for up to 15 years in the constituency they were registered in before leaving the UK.

The Government has committed to end the 15-year limit and introduce 'votes for life' in order to fulfil a key Conservative manifesto pledge.

Glyn Davies MP’s Overseas Electors Private Members Bill is currently making its way through Parliament and I am glad to say that I will be supporting Glyn to ensure that all Britons living abroad have a say over the government and policies of the country they are proud citizens ok.

However, I am cautious about extending the same voting rights to non-UK nationals, regardless of whether they are long term residents in this country or not.

British electoral law already provides for the citizens of nearly fifty Commonwealth countries, British Dependent Territories, and the Republic of Ireland to vote in both local and general elections in the UK.

Citizens of other EU countries may vote in the upcoming European Parliamentary and local elections but not in general elections. There are reciprocal arrangements for British citizens resident in other EU countries to vote in local elections.

Extending the right to vote in general elections and referendums to non-UK nationals devalues the concept and importance of citizenship.

Furthermore, the suggestion that up to 10 million non-UK nationals could become full electors in the UK overnight means that we would be even more susceptible to foreign influence in elections than we already are.

For these reasons I believe that it would be a mistake to extend the right to vote in general elections and referendums to all UK residents regardless of their nationality.