BOVF hosted an event for British and Dual Citizens living in Milan
September 9th, 6pm, All Saints’ Anglican Church, Milan.
BOVF Milan meeting
BOVF was established to galvanize UK citizens abroad to register to vote and importantly, through various mechanisms, to start to have real influence in the UK. Bruce Darrington, BOVF Chair addressed British residents in Italy to explain the BOVF strategy and, of course, to hear from them. Thanks to Brexit, BOVF core issues will resonate with many Britons in Italy and across the EU:
- Spouse and family visas
- UK university fees
- Access to UK bank accounts
And there’s much more. BOVF campaigns for overseas constituencies, better communications with the UK government and an improved voting system. Remember the postal vote scandal in the last UK general election? Find out more about BOVF’s work here: https://bovf.org.uk/
Bruce invited UK citizens, including dual nationals, living in the Milan area to join him for BOVF’s first European meeting and an aperitivo afterwards.
Background: In 2024, the law changed allowing British citizens overseas to vote no matter how long they have lived outside the UK. This increased the overseas electorate to around 3.5m people, with much credit due to long-time Italian resident and ardent campaigner, the late Harry Shindler OBE. No doubt, he would be dismayed that, despite this electoral reform, only 200,000 are currently registered, just 6% of those eligible. By comparison over one million Italians abroad voted in Italy’s last general election, around 26% of its overseas electorate. “There’s much work to be done,” says Bruce Darrington, BOVF Chair. “Harry Shindler, died aged 101 in 2023 so sadly did not get to cast his vote after the lifting of the 15-year-rule. It is very fitting that BOVF’s first European meeting will be in Italy”.
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