UK government vows once more to lift expat voting restrictions, but will words ring hollow?

Officials at Whitehall have now stated that they will end the 15-year rule for British expats… but the question is: when?

As thorny issues go, few are thornier than the topic of voting rights for long-term British expats.

The current law states that British citizens who have lived away from the UK for 15 years or more do not have a vote in general elections or national referendums. This peculiar failing of democracy has been a political hot potato for many years…

Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron had promised to give disenfranchised expats their “Vote for Life” back at the start of 2016 – months ahead of the EU Referendum vote that prompted his resignation.

But the rule change never arrived in time.

Cameron found out the hard way that the hundreds of thousands of Brits ineligible to vote in such matters do, in fact, wield rather decisive political power. There is no way of knowing for certain, but had long-term expats been able to have their say in that historic June 2016 vote, perhaps Brexit could have been staved off.

Perhaps. Since that vote, Whitehall has once more kicked the can down the road, repeatedly stating that it will address the issue, but heaping further delay on the decision-making process. The last time government raised the 15-year rule was last April, ahead of the snap general election that took place in June.

At the time, the British Cabinet Office confirmed that it simply did not “have the time” to change the ruling in time for the election, and thus the status quo has remained.

Until now, that is.

Last week, the Cabinet Office published a statement that said it will be “delivering on its pledge to give back British Expats the right to vote”. The issuance from Whitehall stressed that the government is to end the current 15-year time limit on British expats registering as overseas electors.

The statement also said that it “intends to enfranchise any British expats who were previously resident or registered to vote in the UK” as part of a wider ambition to “strengthen the foundation of democracy”.

Promising words. However, the statement was strangely bereft of any concrete timeframe as to when the ruling will be lifted, with Minister for the Constitution Chloe Smith merely stating: “Following the British people’s decision to leave the EU, we need to strengthen ties with countries around the world and show the UK is an outward-facing nation. Our expat community has an important role to play in helping Britain expand international trade, especially given two-thirds of expats live outside the EU.”

This would suggest that the rule change will not happen until Brexit has been completed, which is likely to be in March 2019.

As things stand, there are no decisive referendums or elections on the immediate horizon, but the statement from government is at least encouraging in its recognition of how the current ruling is unfair on thousands of Brits living around the world. Whether this injustice is rectified in time for the next decisive vote remains to be seen…