Controversial 15-year expat voting restrictions to be lifted by 2020

By the 2020 election, Brits who live abroad can register to vote… even if they have resided overseas for more than 15 years.

It may have come a few months too late to save the UK from a possible Brexit, but the British government has finally confirmed that it is to scrap the 15-year rule that bars long-term expats from voting in general elections and national referendums in the UK…

The decision was taken on Friday last week to remove such barriers in time for the 2020 election, and means that any British national will be able to have their say in the next general election regardless of how long they have lived abroad.

The current ruling has proven controversial in denying British citizens the right to vote if they have not lived in the UK for more than 15 years. Critics of the rule called it undemocratic, while those in favour of placing a time limit of some sort argued that people who had chosen to move away from a country for such a length of time should have no say in how it is run.

However, the government finally seems to have accepted that such an arbitrary cut-off date was in fact unfair, and published a policy statement called “Democracy that works for everyone” in which it confirmed that the ruling will be scrapped.

“We believe that overseas electors contribute to British society and should be given that democratic right to vote,” the constitution minister Chris Skidmore said.

“We intend to give those overseas electors the chance to register quickly and securely so they will be able to register to vote in time for the 2020 election.”

The MP went on to say that “Being British is about so much more than simply being resident in the UK. It doesn’t matter where they live, British citizens are still a part of British society, retaining strong cultural and social ties with their families at home and helping to build businesses abroad.

“The decisions that are made on British shores impact our citizens around the world and indeed many plan to return to live here in the future,” he wrote in a column in the Telegraph newspaper.

The 15-year topic has been a semi-hot political potato in recent years. In the run up to the general election 2015, then-PM David Cameron vowed to scrap it. This was seen as a calculated vote winner, but once Cameron was in power he then said that the rule would not change before the EU Referendum – a decision that came back to haunt him after the UK voted to leave.

It is widely believed that most long-term expats would have voted remain had they been permitted to do so – a bulk of pro-EU voters who could have swung the referendum in favour of remain.

Although in the eyes of many expats this rule change has come too late, plenty others will welcome the eventual amendment to a rather unpopular policy. It may even have the unexpected effect of increasing emigration away from the UK, particularly among soon-to-be retirees who would like to live elsewhere but still have their vote count.