“Ministers agree to consider Lib Dem plans for new referendum” say the headlines.
This is a victory not only for the party and our chances of stopping Brexit, but also for the millions of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens around the world who were excluded from voting in 2016.
At Conference in Brighton in September, Lib Dem members condemned this injustice, and passed policy that EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens abroad must be included in all future referendums.
Lib Dem Immigrants are proud that our party refuses to treat immigrants and emigrants as afterthoughts, and recognizes that wherever a person comes from, they are equally deserving of respect and representation.
We are glad that our MPs are vigorously arguing this case in their discussions with Ministers.
Vince — and the rest of your team — please keep up the good work, and know that EU citizens living in the UK, and UK citizens living abroad, are taking hope from the fact that a major party is fighting for their interests.
* Liberal Democrat Immigrants exists to represent those members of the Liberal Democrats who have chosen to come to live in the UK from elsewhere. It also seeks to represent the interests of immigrants to the UK in general and to highlight those issues that disproportionately affect immigrants.
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3 Comments
‘UK citizens around the world who were excluded from voting in 2016’.
ie: Those that have been abroad for more than 15 years and have ONLY AT THAT POINT lost the right to vote in UK elections? This doesn’t seem to be quite equitable – they very possibly make NO contribution to UK life, or taxes, and are getting the benefit of a UK association (such as healthcare costs paid by the UK government), while possibly voting to eliminate any potential contribution for themselves, by reducing tax rates to zero and eliminating public services.
I have severe misgivings with the US habit of extraterritoriality on their lawmaking, but one aspect of it, as I understand it, seems attractive. US citizens living abroad are taxed on any income earned abroad at a rate to make it up to the US rate, if taxed below that by another state. “No representation without taxation” seems a fair call to make.
We are all citizens of the world – I’d support non British EU citizens having a vote too, after all their chances have been wrecked by the far left and the far right.
I’d give the franchise to anyone who has lived here for longer than six months and intends to make it their home. I’m more hesitant about people who have permanently left the UK.