Britons in France: chance to support better UK voting from overseas

Opposition parties in the UK are making a last-ditch bid this Wednesday, September 2, to have improvements to overseas voting included in a voting bill.

Readers who retain voting rights in the UK may wish to write to their UK MPs to draw their attention to these amendments of interest to Britons abroad being put forward by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

The Representation of the People Bill is coming up for its report stage and third reading in the House of Commons, after which it will go to the Lords.

Voters abroad may use postal or proxy voting in UK general elections (and referendums linked to the same franchise), unless they are able to visit the UK to vote in person.

However, proxy voting requires having a trusted person who is a UK voter who can cast a vote for you physically in your old constituency (it is also possible, but more complex, to apply for a ‘proxy postal’ vote, where someone votes by post in the UK for you).

What is in the bill?               

The bill includes changes to electoral law including a proposal to lower the voting age to 16.

Another rule relates to giving returning officers new powers to check into British adults in the UK (not overseas) who have not registered. They will send out letters to them and will register them automatically if there is no response.

With regard to postal votes there are some small tweaks intended to maximise the time postal voters have to fill in and return their ballots, including moving the deadline to apply for a postal vote a little earlier, and making the candidate nomination deadline a little earlier.

There is otherwise nothing helpful to overseas voters, which both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats consider to be a missed opportunity.

What do the Conservatives propose?

The Conservatives are therefore proposing an amendment to the new bill. The Liberal Democrats are proposing their own amendment. 

Both amendments could make overseas voting easier and could be debated in the Commons on Wednesday.   

The Conservatives want to draw attention to repeated issues at UK elections with overseas postal votes failing to count because people cannot return them on time.

They say Electoral Commission data shows that at the last general election only 49% of overseas voters who were registered completed formalities to receive a postal vote. Of these postal ballots, only 52% are estimated to have been returned in time to be counted. 

For residents in Australia, the rate was only 6%, as compared to an average 80% for postal votes within the UK.

Numbers of Britons abroad actually registered to vote has also never been high, which historically was partly affected by the fact that the right to vote was cut off after 15 years of living abroad.

At the 2024 general election there were just over 191,000 registered overseas electors, which was down on the previous elections in 2019 and 2017 despite 2024 being the first general election after the 15-year rule was scrapped in January of that year.

A record high came with about 285,000 in 2017, boosted by an awareness campaign and interest in the EU referendum the previous year. Prior to that the figure had never exceeded 35,000 before 2015.

When ‘votes for life’ came in – a longstanding Conservative promise – the government estimated that removing the 15-year limit could bring the number of eligible overseas voters above three million.

The Conservative-led amendment therefore calls for an independent review into how the UK can increase registration and (successful) participation by Britons abroad.

The party calls the group “the most disenfranchised section of the electorate”.

“The system makes it impossible for the majority to exercise their democratic rights,” it said in a statement.

“Yet in the bill, the Labour government wants to use computer algorithms to automatically sign up electors, despite the risks of wrongly enfranchising some people. And at the same time, they are turning a blind eye to the obstacles preventing legitimate British citizens from voting.”

Amendment NC65 says the experience of overseas voters at the 2024 election should be taken into account in this review, as well as the number of overseas voters participating in recent elections.

Liberal Democrats propose new voting methods

Liberal Democrat MP Freddie van Mierlo has tabled amendment NC19, which calls for measures including downloadable ballots and internet or telephone voting. 

The amendment has been backed by campaigners at Unlock Democracy and New Europeans UK.

Whether either of these is selected for debate on Wednesday September 2 will depend on the decision of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

When an amendment is selected it is debated, then either withdrawn, agreed without objection or ‘divided’, the latter meaning that the house votes physically, by members filing through division lobbies and having the results recorded by name.

The Conservatives say they plan to ‘force a vote’ on their amendment, meaning they will not withdraw it and will seek a division, which, if the amendment is not adopted, will at least ensure there is a record of every MP who voted for or against the idea.

It is essentially an invitation to Labour backbenchers and smaller parties to support the amendment.

If you wish to email your UK MP asking him or her to back one or both of the amendments, you can find their email address at Find your MP.