Voting rights campaigner Harry Shindler was disappointed to receive a letter from Downing Street saying that the Government “is not minded” at present to allow expats the vote.
The “15 year rule” disenfranchises British expats from voting in UK elections after they have lived abroad for 15 or more years.
Last month, the 93-year-old veteran welcomed the news of a Conservative Party manifesto pledge to change this law if the party is returned to power in the May 2015 general election.
Mr Shindler’s hopes for a lifting of the ban before that election were dashed by a letter from Iain Forbes, an assistant private secretary to 10 Downing Street, in which he wrote: "The Government will keep the 15-year time limit under consideration but it is not minded to change the law at present."
A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats was reported to have said the policy paper “suggests a consultation on allowing expats to be represented via overseas constituencies (as the French have) and a consultation on whether we should allow reciprocal voting arrangements with other EU countries (e.g., allowing British citizens resident in, for example, Austria to vote in their elections and vice versa)."
“We would not legislate on any changes to electoral arrangements between now and the next election – given the difficulty of getting any controversial legislation on voting arrangements through."
He had also noted that out of the five million British citizens abroad, only 20,000 registered to vote.
Mr Shindler, who fought in the Allied landings at Anzio in WWII, said: “Many of the chaps affected by this are ex-servicemen like me who will be 100 years old by the time the next election comes around in 2020. It’s a bit farcical. If you’ve accepted the principle, then do something now. You’ve got seven months to do it.”
