Long-Term Brits In Spain Will Get To Vote In UK Elections

Long-Term Brits In Spain Will Get To Vote In UK Elections Spain News Published: 04 March 2021 17:49 CET

UK citizens who have lived overseas for 15 years or more, are to be given the right to vote in the general elections.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced the move during Wednesday’s Budget, stating that £2.5 million had been set aside to fund the change.

The move will mean that people who no longer reside in the UK, will be allowed to vote in the constituencies they lived in before moving abroad.

Successive governments have pledged to change the law that was passed back in 2002. The current law states that people who have lived abroad for more than 15 years should be removed from the electoral roll.

However, paragraph 2.41 of the Red Budget Book, which lays out in detail the government's planned spending says "Overseas Electors - the government is providing an additional £2.5m to remove the limit preventing British citizens who live overseas from voting after 15 years."

A spokesperson from the Treasury said that the ruling to bring about this reform will be laid before Parliament at the latter part of this year.

Expat, WWII veteran Harry Schindler has been campaigning for this change since moving to Italy some 40 years ago. He has lost several court battles over the years and back in 2012 he threatened to take his case to the United Nations, saying that the law was “In contravention of the universal right of manhood suffrage.”

Speaking to the BBC back in 2011, Mr Schindler said: "There was a war to bring the vote to the people of Europe. We won the war, but some of the people who took part in the war, me included, are not allowed to vote themselves."

After hearing Mr Sunak’s announcement, Harry tweeted: "It's very good news that the UK's 15 year voting rule is ending as part of #Budget2021. We fought to defend our right to vote in WW2 and now we will get to use it. This is an important day for freedom."

Before 1985, UK citizens who lived overseas were not entitled to vote in general elections. The law then changed meaning expats were able to vote for five years after moving abroad.

This was then increased in 1989 to 20 years, before being reduced in 2002 to 15 years.

The 2019 general election saw the number of registered oversea voters reach a record 233,000.