General Chat

I heard about this from an Expat Brit site that I occasionally read .................


to be blunt, I fail to see why someone who has lived outside a country for 15 years let alone longer, should even think they have the right to vote in their "home" country.

That legislation would mean that I could vote, and I will have been a non-resident for 50 years in August.

What right have I got to vote on something that could affect thousands or millions, and yet not have an effect on me??


I feel the same way about those who carry 2 passports .............. taken the citizenship of the country they live in but also keep their British passport up to date. Going to England on holiday ............ they enter the UK on their British passport, and use the other when they return. They want to vote in both Britain and in the other country

To me, they are not true citizens of either country.


FWI ............ I consider myself British-born, but a Canadian naturalized citizen.

Canada is now the country that I owe allegiance to, and where I vote with the hope that the party will be the one that does the best for Canada and its peoples. I would never even consider trying to a) get my British passport back, or b) voting in the UK.

We have difficulty posting a vote because to receive our postal vote it needs to be posted about a month before the vote as it takes up to 3 weeks to get a letter from UK.

Many who qualified for the referendum here were unable to vote as the forms didn't arrive until after the referendum. In a normal election the postal vote is sent out about 11 days before the vote and that's the earliest the postal vote can be sent.

My children do not live near where we used to live either so no proxy. We have no family in the area. We lived there because it was near good road, rail and air links to where my husband worked, Scotland - Kent including East Anglia, the Shetlands and Hebrides

It is only a promise, does not include 16-18 and crucially omits referenda. expats who can vote mostly don't and end up with poor deals such as the heating mess.
Referenda are excluded which may be crucial if May is forced into a 2nd referendum.

A deal is being worked out for Gib which will de facto end up with them having dual Nat with the red n yellow flag flying above the rock.

Despite being reluctant to grant long term expats n nondoms voting rights ukgov has had no trouble extending taxation on them. Maybe they will have a tea party.

Quote from a magazine I get:

In a Policy Statement published on 7 October, the government said overseas voting rights would be extended to any British citizen who had been previously resident or registered to vote in the UK, thus removing the 15-year cut-off point.

To do so, they should register on the electoral roll where they last resided in the UK, and would cast their ballot in that constituency.

They could choose to vote by post, in person (if in the UK on polling day) or by nominating a proxy.