Legal bid to win Brexit vote for all expats in EU

London law firm Leigh Day has sought
an urgent judicial review of the EU
Referendum Act, arguing that banning
expats who have been out of the country
for 15 years or more from voting is
against EU rights on free movement.
It claims the ban excludes people from
a democratic process the results of which
may well end the EU rights on which
they base their everyday lives and jobs.
Leigh Day say they estimate that at
least a million British adults living in the
EU are barred due to the 15-year rule.
With a new poll by TNS showing ‘leave’
and ‘remain’ both at 36% and 28%
unsure, disenfranchised expats could
play a significant role in the vote.
Leigh Day has won several ‘rights’
cases including obtaining £15million last
year from Shell for pollution and, in
another case, compensation for 30,000
Ivorians affected by toxic waste.
It argues that the referendum voting
rules differ from those for a General
Election and thus represent a new breach
of expats’ rights. Its spokesman David
Standard said a High Court judge had
ordered the government to provide a
written response by April 1. The judge
will then decide how to proceed.
The case is being brought on behalf of
expat campaigner and Second World
War veteran Harry Shindler and a
Scottish expat in Belgium. Leigh Day
says it has been ‘inundated with support’
from expats over the case.
The firm has asked for a final hearing
by mid-April to give time for newlyenfranchised
expats to register and
obtain postal or proxy votes. It says there
is precedent for the government passing
fast-track legal changes after such judgments,
adding it would not have taken
on the case (which it is doing without a
fee) if it did not think it could win.