Question mark on expat votes

VOTING rights of expats remain unclear should Britain hold a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU.

Prime Minister David Cameron says that if he is re-elected in 2015 he will hold a referendum by 2017 and Connexion contacted the UK’s Electoral Commission, which would help run any referendum.

A commission spokeswoman said: “There are no set rules for referendums and it will depend on the franchise that is agreed for this one at a later stage. It is too early to tell.”

She said, for example, it is possible the rules will be the same as general election voting - you can take part if you have not been away from the UK for longer than 15 years. On the other hand, the voting may be restricted to UK residents.