What we are campaigning for
Overseas Constituencies
Learn about our work to do with Overseas Constituencies
JOIN OUR OVERSEAS CONSTITUENCY POLICY GROUP
The issue:
Our recommendation is for a better way to provide representation for UK Overseas voters.
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Currently, the overseas voter’s list is an additional list of voters maintained by each local authority responsible for running elections. It merely contains the names and addresses of overseas voters who are entitled to vote in the particular parliamentary constituency because they were registered as voters there before they left to live overseas.
The MP would appear to have a responsibility to these voters to look after their issues, but due to the demands on their time and the immense geographic spread of the voters, these votes tend to be forgotten. In addition, overseas voters who have not registered to vote clearly have no MP who is responsible for looking after their interests.
At the other end of the spectrum, overseas voters have a wealth of overseas experience that the UK government is not tapping into.
In addition, by organizing the vote in this way, it is impossible to provide a timely process for getting postal ballots out and back in time. The current administrative process for 650 parliamentary constituencies is a huge and unnecessary headache for a huge number of local authorities.
What we say:
The modern and also efficient answer is to properly represent the UK overseas voters by establishing constituencies specifically for those who live overseas. Overseas voters would then only need to be registered in each country with checks made to ensure no dual voting right exists
back in the UK.
Then, the overseas voters will elect an MP dedicated to representing them, and the UK parliament will benefit from MPs who will convey a wealth of international experience to the United Kingdom.
This will be similar to what the French and the Italians have done in setting up dedicated constituencies for overseas voters, something that has been done fairly recently i.e. within the last 20 years.
What we are doing:
We have formed a policy group to look at all the details and create proposals based on fairness for how we can make overseas constituencies a reality.
We have and continue to engage with MPs, talking to them about the problems overseas citizens face in getting their MP to assist or support them.
We seek to connect with other stakeholders and partners around the world campaigning to end this discriminatory legislation.