Author Archives: Tom McAdam

Citizens abroad and party strategy

By Tom McAdam | Thu 24th September 2026 - 11:15 am

There were many things to support in the party strategy motion. It includes confident liberalism, modern campaigning, and reaching new communities. However, there is one notable exclusion. In fact, around five million notable exclusions: citizens abroad.

The strategy talks about reaching out to all communities in our country. These five million people are not in the UK, but they are served by our democracy. I live in Switzerland now, having moved for a job. Yet decisions made in Westminster continue to affect my life.

The starkest of those in recent years was of course Brexit. Many of the million British citizens living and working in Europe spent years in limbo after the referendum, not knowing what residency status they would eventually be afforded in the country in which they had built a life. We continue to see Britons being removed from EU countries, most recently Charles, a British citizen deported from Sweden.

All because of a decision made in Westminster.

It doesn’t stop there. A pensioner retiring to Australia from the UK in 2006 would now receive less than half the basic State Pension of a pensioner who stayed in the UK, despite having made exactly the same contributions.