Long-term British expats lose battle for vote in EU referendum

The High Court challenge brought by Harry Shindler, a 94-year-old WWII veteran living in Italy and lawyer Jacquelyn MacLennan resident in Belgium, has failed to sway judges that those Britons living outside the UK for 15 years or more should have the right to participate in the June Referendum.

The two expats argued through their laywers they illegally were being denied the chance to vote because they had lived in other European countries for more than 15 years.

The expats' lawyers asked two judges to declare unlawful section two of the EU Referendum Act 2015, which establishes the 15-year rule for overseas electors. The Act, they argued, unlawfully restricted their right to freedom of movement under EU law.

But Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, sitting with Mr Justice Blake, ruled section two did not restrict their rights and rejected their application for judicial review.

This means that British expats living in European countries other than the United Kingdom have no say at all in the future of the UK within Europe despite potentially being affected by changes in UK policy on travel, health, investment, education, property laws, inheritance tax and the many other areas where European laws and treaties ensure fair treatment and non-discrimination.

David Cameron’s Conservative party agreed before the last election to extent the voting rights for the '15-year-plus' expat group but for reasons best known to government has allowed the time period to run on so as to deny this group of Europhiles the chance to have their say in the future of the UK within Europe.

Many British expats are not allowed to vote for an MP in their country of residence (this is the case in Portugal) and, if they have lived outside the UK for 15 years or more, are not allowed to vote for an MP in the UK - a situation that has ‘concerned’ Brussels, but not enough for anyone to do anything about it.

The pro-vote lawyers have vowed to fight on after the High Court rejected the petition and will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the High Court decision which affects the rights of up to 2 million expatriate Britons living in Europe

The lawyers told the High Court that if the vote in June is to leave the EU then all British citizens will lose their status as EU citizens.  This means that those British citizens living outside the UK but in the EU will become “resident aliens” living and working abroad under sufferance rather than by right and no longer able to claim the protections of EU law.

The Court also heard arguments that the ‘15 year rule’ acted as a penalty against British citizens for having exercised their free movement rights.  The rule prevents them from participating in a democratic process, the result of which might bring to an end the very EU laws and rights on which they rely and have based their working and private lives.

However Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mr. Justice Blake were more concerned with the government’s timetable than the rights and wrongs of the case and in a decision that has been criticised as being distinctly more political than judicial, stated that they accepted the Government’s claims that there were, 

“…significant practical difficulties about adopting, especially for this referendum, a new electoral register which includes non-resident British citizens whose last residence the United Kingdom was more than 15 years ago.”

“In our view, Parliament could legitimately take the view that electors who satisfy the test of closeness of connection set by the 15 year rule form an appropriate group to vote on the question whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union.”

Following the judgment Richard Stein, the lawyer from Leigh Day representing the claimants, said, “We are obviously disappointed that the High Court has denied us the opportunity to challenge the decision by the Government to exclude British citizens from the EU referendum.

“We now intend to take the legal battle to the Supreme Court, the highest Court in the country, so that all British citizens living elsewhere in the EU can be part of the democratic process to vote in this referendum which will have a very real impact on their lives.

“We believe that there is precedent for fast track legislation being put through Parliament in a matter of days in response to court judgment, so there would be no need for the referendum to be delayed if the Supreme Court rules in our favour.

“Since this is a vote in a referendum rather than in an election there is no need to link the votes of Britons in Europe to any particular constituency in the UK.   Possession of a British passport should be enough.”

In response to the judgment, Jacquelyn MacLennan said,

“The Government made a manifesto commitment to enfranchise all British citizens, no matter how long they have been abroad saying that they thought that “choosing 15 years, as opposed to 14 or 16 years, is inherently like sticking a dart in a dartboard” and that “if British citizens maintain British citizenship that brings with it rights, obligations and a connection with this country, and that that should endure.”.   We just want the Government to keep its promises.”

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