Overseas British residents allowed to vote

In this coming election, for the first time, British residents who have lived overseas for more than 15 years will be allowed to vote. In January this year, the Electoral Commission was keen to issue information about this new provision, and stated that about 3 million are likely to take up the offer. About 5.5 million British citizens live overseas, but some of these have retained their voter registration in the UK as they are allowed to do up to the 15 year limit that has now been abolished.

It is hard to analyse whether their political concerns will make any difference at the polls. Electoral offices in each constituency might be able to give a figure on how many voters have applied to register from an overseas address, but it would be an arduous task to collect this from each of 650 constituencies. Where they place their vote is, of course, confidential. It might be possible to make some deduction if the vote swings considerably in a constituency that has a marked increase of these overseas voters, but my guess is that they are probably too widely dispersed across different constituencies to make the statistical difference discernible.

Overseas British residents’ concerns

What might their top political concerns be? Top of the list for those who are British pensioners living in Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa is that their British State pensions are frozen to the rate of the first year of claiming it. Kent MP Roger Gale has been leading Parliamentary enquiries into this but, earlier this year, it was reported that there would be no increase for the almost half a million British retirees who are the victims of this. I was one of these while I lived in South Africa, but received the increase that matched my contributions, as soon as I returned to my UK residence. Although the British expatriate associations were organised enough to bring a case before the ECHR in 2010 (they lost), more recent efforts such as a Parliamentary petition have not attracted enough signatures to gain more political attention, for instance only seven signatures in Roger Gale’s Kent constituency. British expatriates residing in the EU do not suffer this injustice as their pension is upgraded annually under the triple lock.

Migration during empire according to race

For those following how migration features in current politics, it is interesting to note how the British diaspora is quantified. During the centuries of empire, our island nation sent out many ships full of hopeful emigrants (and also imprisoned deportees) to settle in overseas colonies. The resulting racial count in those countries is listed in Wikipedia:

This is counting descendants rather than those who still retain British citizenship. Those who are hostile to immigration into these islands rarely confront the historical fact that people from elsewhere come here because we and our forebears went there. The annual net migration figures state that the count consists of the total of individuals coming in minus those who have left. 

British residents overseas retired in pleasant places

Many of those leaving would be those returning to their home countries, such as the exodus of EU citizens because of Brexit. Some would be Brits who are seeking to retire in pleasant places where property is cheaper than in the UK, or the climate is sunnier. There is a whole industry servicing the needs of such internationally mobile retirees, giving them advice on health, property, and of course “tax efficiency”. Some of these, of high net worth, will be watching keenly what the UK election manifestos are declaring about taxing the rich and regulations on non-dom status.

If most people vote according to how they understand what will most affect them and their families, then those whose interests straddle countries and nations may suffer a democratic deficit. As a permanent resident in South Africa, I was delighted that I was allowed to vote in the first free election of 1994, but thereafter they took away that right. This meant I had no vote even for local elections which would shape the municipal government of the city in which I lived, even though I was active in the residents’ association and in community policing. 

Residents voting in local elections

I think it is right that all residents should have a vote for local government. They are affected by the decisions of the local government in their area and are paying via local taxes for the services. This right prevails in all EU countries. But in the UK, an ex-EU country, it is a right that all EU citizens resident in the UK also have, but not foreigners from other countries resident in England. Devolved government in Scotland and Wales gives the right to vote for local and national governments to all those legally resident, and British living overseas who have registered to vote.

One has to be motivated to participate in elections as it takes some effort to get registered with a local electoral office by the deadline (10 June) producing documentary evidence of former residence in that constituency. So who are those most likely to take up the new offer to those who have been resident overseas for more than 15 years? The oldest cohorts can be counted out as they will mostly not be digitally adept enough to go through this process unless helped by their children. But there will be many who have settled overseas precisely because of where their children are, but they still retain interest in the UK through other children who are resident here, or through their own pension or property. They still follow British news, and socialise with other Brits. They may even be members of British political parties. 

British overseas residents’ vote dispersed

As pointed out above, the arrangement for registering with the electoral office of a constituency means that the effect of voting from overseas is dispersed. France chooses a different way to give voice to citizens residing overseas: they vote for politicians who will represent specific overseas constituencies. There are eleven of them. In 2022 there were 168,869 registered French voters for the third constituency of the National Assembly, which consisted of the UK, Scandinavia and the Baltics. This means that the elected politician can concentrate on the concerns of these voters. In 2022 for example French voters in Kent had something to say at the hustings about Eurostar not stopping at Kent stations! 

PPERA on donations

One under-discussed feature of the recent change is the law is that it might become easier for British political parties to accept money from overseas. Under PPERA (Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000) donations, loans and bequests must be from “permitted sources” which include British registered companies, and British overseas voters. Maybe the Conservatives hope to get more bequests from those Brits ageing in their retirement overseas. Unfortunately, in my own encounters with them, those long-term expatriates include some racists who state that they moved away from England because too many immigrants moved into their street. They quote “facts” derived from Breitbart or Fox News. Maybe they will now delightedly subscribe to Nigel Farage’s Reform party. But there will be others who have spent their careers in public service overseas, in teaching, health, and development, who will have a different view of what matters in politics. PPERA is an important safeguard that should confine British political finance to those with genuine connection to the UK, and exclude shady finance from Russia or right-wing US think tanks.

Those who have volunteered to act as political agents to candidates in the current general election have the arduous task of PPERA returns and we should remember to thank them for their toil.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER

HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!