Will EU expats win referendum vote?

DISCUSSIONS begin in the House of Lords today on amendments to the UK’s EU Referendum Bill which could allow all British expatriates in the EU to have a vote – and there is still time to tell peers your views.

Currently anyone who has lived out of the UK for more than 15 years cannot vote, despite the decision of the Referendum potentially having a significant impact on their lives.

As the ‘committee stage’ discussions get under way an amendment helping expatriates now has cross-party support, so there is a realistic chance the Lords could vote in favour of the idea if enough are convinced it is the fair thing to do.

The peers will discuss – this week and next – the various changes that their colleagues have suggested for the bill, including one that says all adult expats in the EU should be able to vote in the referendum.

They will then decide in the ‘report stage’ towards the middle or end of November which amendments to put forward before the bill goes back to the House of Commons. If the MPs reject their suggestions they would not typically try a second time.

Connexion spoke to Lord Hannay (Crossbench - no party affiliation), who is putting forward one of two similar amendments along with Baroness Smith of Newnham (LD), Lord Garrel-Jones (Con) and Lord Bowness (Con). A similar one is presented by Baroness Miller (LD) with Lord Dykes (CB), Lord Foulkes (Lab) and Lord Liddle (Lab). Lord Hannay said they will probably be merged into one before the report stage vote.

He advised readers should continue to lobby peers in support of the amendment, as well as others who may have influence over whether or not it becomes law. “We need to galvanise expats to start writing in to all their contacts in the government, in parliament and the House of Commons saying ‘we want the vote’. They should start stirring things up – mailbags, or rather email-bags, are important and they should start bombarding ministers and MPs saying ‘come on, democracy is about giving the vote to people who are affected by the outcome and Heaven knows that applies to this’.”

He added: “We’ve got a long way to go, though it’s very good we’ve got cross-party support. That’s the usual basic foundation you need to carry amendments in the House of Lords.

“I think the case is a very strong one. The Conservative Party believes all British citizens in the EU and indeed more widely should have the vote [in the broader sense, including General Elections] and not be cut off, so I don’t see there’s an objection in principal. And this referendum is the one vote that British citizens in the EU probably mind about the most. So it seems extremely anomalous to say you are in favour of giving them the vote and then not give it to them in time to participate in this.”

Lord Hannay said his personal opinion is that the referendum may take place around September to October next year and it is likely to be close-run. He added it would be “very optimistic” to assume there would be little impact on expats if the UK came out.

“A lot of the rights people have, whereever they are – Spain or France, or Italy, are based on EU law relating to a country that is a member state. They cannot simply assume all those rights will be maintained.”

Among other proposed amendments are ones calling for detailed reports into the impact of Britain leaving, including on expats in the EU.

Connexion will have more comments from Lord Hannay, who has been heavily involved in discussions about the UK's relationship with the EU during his long career, in our December edition (going out to subscribers by around November 20); plus updates on the committee stage debates.

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Lobby now over referendum vote

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