EU citizens not eligible for EU in/out referendum vote, says No 10

[Blackleaf]

The government has confirmed that citizens from most EU countries will not be eligible to vote in the referendum in which the people will decide whether or not Britain will leave the EU.

Eurosceptics have been concerned that the government will allow all EU citizens resident in the UK who are old enough to vote to partake in the referendum, with it thought that most of them will vote for Britain to stay in the EU. Former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox, a Eurosceptic, said allowing EU citizens to vote in the referendum "would have been an unacceptable dilution of the voice of the British people". But it has been confirmed that most EU citizens will not be able to vote.

The franchise will be broadly the same as for a general election, rather than local or European elections.

Irish citizens in the UK are eligible. Residents from two other EU nations, Malta and Cyprus (who are both Commonwealth nations), also qualify, along with others from the Commonwealth.

The franchise will not include 16 and 17-year-olds, unlike the Scottish independence referendum (in which the SNP tried to gerrymander the result by allowing 16 and 17 year old to vote. It was thought that these would be in favour of Scottish independence, but it seems that turned out not to be the case). It is thought that under-18s would be likely to vote to remain in the EU.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the plans were "sensible and reasonable".

"The decision of the people of this country should be up to the people of this country and the easiest way to do this is to use the Westminster franchise. The government should be supported on this matter," he said.

This week, Mr Cameron is also set to embark on a tour of personal meetings with other EU leaders to talk about the UK's agenda for reform.

He will meet the leaders of Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Germany.

It is thought that if he doesn't get the EU reforms he wants, Mr Cameron will campaign for Britain to leave the EU in the referendum.

The referendum will be held before the end of 2017. The last EU in/out referendum was in 1975.


EU citizens not eligible for referendum vote, says No 10

BBC News
25 May 2015

The Conservatives have promised to hold an "in/out" referendum on the EU by the end of 2017

Citizens from most EU countries living in the UK will not get a vote in the referendum on Europe, No 10 has said.

The franchise will be broadly the same as for a general election, rather than local or European elections.

Irish citizens in the UK are eligible. Residents from two other EU nations, Malta and Cyprus, also qualify, along with others from the Commonwealth.

David Cameron is to hold talks with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at Chequers later.

Legislation for the voting eligibility of the referendum - which the Conservatives have promised to hold before the end of 2017 - will be introduced to Parliament via the EU Referendum Bill on Thursday.

'Get to decide'

The Bill will make clear that the franchise will follow broadly the same rules as the general election:

British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over 18 who are resident in the UK will be eligible to vote.

So too will UK nationals who have lived overseas for less than 15 years.

The franchise will not include 16 and 17-year-olds, unlike the Scottish independence referendum.

Members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar will also be allowed to vote, although they cannot participate in general elections.

In total, around 45.3 million people will be able to take part.

A Number 10 source said: "No Brit under the age of 58 has had their say on the UK's membership of the European Union.

"It is time to put this right and to give people the choice - in or out.

"This is a big decision for our country, one that is about the future of the United Kingdom.

That's why we think it's important that it is British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens that are the ones who get to decide."

Eurosceptics have previously claimed that as many as 1.5 million people from other EU countries could have been allowed to vote in the referendum, if it had taken place under the rules for local government elections which allow citizens of other member states to vote in them.

Former Tory defence secretary Liam Fox, a Eurosceptic, said allowing EU citizens to vote in the referendum "would have been an unacceptable dilution of the voice of the British people".

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the plans were "sensible and reasonable".

"The decision of the people of this country, should be up to the people of this country and the easiest way to do this is to use the Westminster franchise. The government should be supported on this matter," he said.

However, the SNP is expected to try and get the government to alter the legislation so it allows 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

'Seminal exercise'

The party's Westminster leader Angus Robertson said: "I don't agree with having a referendum on EU membership - but if it is to go ahead, then Cameron has a responsibility to help ensure it can be an enriching and open debate.

"Young people are our future. It is their UK - and their Europe - so they must have their say."

On hearing the news that Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar would be allowed to vote, the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said Mr Cameron had "been true to his word".

"Our voice will be heard as part of the franchise for this seminal exercise in democracy," he said.

In 2014, the Conservatives promised to remove the 15-year cap on expats voting in general elections if they were returned to power.

Party chairman Grant Shapps said at the time: "Being a British citizen is for life... we believe it should also give you the lifelong right to vote."

But Conservative backbencher John Redwood told the Today programme it would be "wrong to hijack" the referendum to extend the vote to groups not previously included in the franchise.

And he said it was "a myth put around by the pro-Europeans" that 16 and 17-year-olds were interested in the issue of Europe.

'Worthless'

This week, Mr Cameron is also set to embark on a tour of personal meetings with other EU leaders to talk about the UK's agenda for reform.

He will meet the leaders of Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Germany.

Mr Cameron is also hoping to talk to all other 27 leaders of EU member states individually before the June European Council at the end of next month, No 10 added.

UKIP MP Douglas Carswell said the prime minister's promised renegotiation would be "more or less worthless".

"There are people in Brussels who would give an arm and a leg to try to keep us in. He could use that to leverage to get a fundamentally different relationship with Europe," Mr Carswell said.

"But, of course, we now know he's not seeking treaty change and none of the new deal that he is looking for will apply specifically to Britain... none of it is going to fundamentally change our relationship with Europe."

Analysis

By BBC political correspondent Chris Mason

David Cameron did not want former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker to get the job as European Commission President


I'm sure you've got better ideas of how to spend a bank holiday Monday than me.

But I wouldn't mind being that bluebottle on the wall at Chequers tonight, assuming the government's fly-swatters aren't up to much.

Less than a year ago, the prime minister was doing his best to make sure Jean Claude Juncker didn't get the gig as President of the European Commission.

Well, you win some, you lose some. And David Cameron lost that one. Because they call him President Juncker now.

So, Mr Cameron has invited the president around for tea at his country retreat, Chequers. I'm told the prime minister will be "open, practical and friendly" in his approach.

Later in the week, David Cameron will visit Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Germany. And the talking is only just beginning.



"I don't agree with having a referendum on EU membership"

Says Angus Robertson of the SNP, the party which gave the Scots a referendum on whether or not they should leave the UK

EU citizens not eligible for referendum vote, says No 10 - BBC News

 

[55Mercury]

as it should be...

along with anyone of voting age not being a citizen of more than 5 years

 

[Blackleaf]

The referendum should also be held as late as possible. The later it's held the more likely it will be that the eurosceptic side will win. Towards the end of 2017 would be ideal.

 

[55Mercury]

you're making the Chunnel sound like a Euro-nary tract infection. lol

 

[Blackleaf]

you're making the Chunnel sound like a Euro-nary tract infection. lol

The Chunnel should be closed down and filled in. That'll make it more difficult for scummy illegals to get into the country.

The in-out EU voting row is just a distraction

Our EU referendum is really about whether we should be a self-governing democracy - so why should the franchise differ from a general election?

It would be contentious to let recently arrived EU migrants a vote on this matter Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

By John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham
26 May 2015
The Telegraph

991 Comments

Bookmaker William Hill is offering 3:1 odds on Britain leaving the EU by 2020

The people who voted in the general election to ask for a referendum on the EU are the right people to vote in that referendum. It does not make sense to change the franchise from the normal one in general elections.

This is an important referendum on whether we stay in the European Union or find a better way from outside the treaties to trade with the member states, be friends with them and negotiate with them as most of the rest of the world does successfully. It is not a sideshow to a wider discussion about changing our normal voter list.

The Conservative Government has a narrow Parliamentary majority and won with 37 per cent of the vote. Its policy of offering a referendum on the EU was far more popular than the party. This has been confirmed by Labour’s acting leader, Harriet Harman, who says she found on the doorsteps in the election that people do want an EU referendum. Labour has wisely changed its policy to support one. With this backing it should pass Parliament relatively easily and give people what they asked for.

Our Conservative manifesto contained no proposals to allow EU migrants or 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in general elections or in the referendum. Expats who have been abroad more than 15 years have a better claim but we don’t want to make special cases for the referendum. The Government needs to use its political capital on matters that are clearly in the national interest: to further the recovery, create jobs, improve prosperity, or settle the UK constitution. We have no mandate for such changes, which would be contentious and unlikely to command large majority support.

During the election, I received little lobbying to allow 16-year-olds to vote and no lobbying to allow European Union migrants to vote here in national elections. There is no evidence that these things are wanted by many.

The referendum concerns whether the UK should become again a self-governing democracy, or whether it should submit to more and more rules, laws and controls from the EU. It would be contentious to let recently arrived EU migrants a vote on this matter, when one of the crucial topical concerns is how many EU migrants should come here and on what terms.

An awkward high five between David Cameron and Jean-Claude Juncker, whom Cameron was against becoming President of the European Commission (Photo: Lieven Creemers)

At the centre of this debate is the way the UK acts as a job creator of last resort for the EU. Much of euroland is mired in recession, slow growth and mass unemployment. I often think Euro stands for European Unemployment and Recession Organisation, as it generates both. The UK is a large contributor to the tax revenues of the EU and a large import market for continental exporters. No wonder many on the continent wish to keep us in, and value our contribution.

The UK does have to ask itself is it right that we pay so much into the EU? Is it right that we offer so many jobs to people whose own countries have wrong policies that produce high unemployment?

There are some multinational business executives who want to move immediately to fighting the referendum to keep the UK in. They weaken the Prime Minister badly by saying this. They send a signal that they and others like them will vote to stay in the EU whatever deal the EU offers the UK. How can you negotiate for a better outcome if too many want to tell the other side we will accept anything or nothing?

Other parts of the pro-EU movement now want to sidetrack the debate about the negotiations and terms of membership into a debate about who should vote in the referendum.

This also looks like a way of undermining the process that is so crucial to the UK’s future.

Economic refugees flock to booming Britain from across Europe (Photo: Reuters)

The truth about the UK’s membership is it was sold then and now as necessary to our trade with the EU. We all want free trade with the other member states. The good news is our trade is not in danger whatever the outcome of the vote. Germany has made clear it wants to carry on selling us cars and other manufactured goods, and does not want new tariffs or barriers in its way. The UK has no intention of erecting any such obstacles, and is happy to find a convenient way of carrying on with all their and our trade intact, just as the companies that said they would leave if we did not join the euro are still here and investing in the UK.

Even more important than trade is the question of who governs. This referendum will be about whether UK voters in a general election can demand a change of policy, and UK politicians can then make it happen. We do not want to become like Greece, where the people vote for a major change but are told change is impossible under euro and EU rules.

The UK has just voted for change to its borders and welfare system. Politicians have to deliver that change. That’s why the voters in the general election who demanded new policies on borders and benefits should also decide whether the EU makes sense or is a barrier to our own democratic decision-making.


The in-out EU voting row is just a distraction - Telegraph

All across Europe, the dissatisfaction is clear

Though the people of Europe cannot vote in the forthcoming EU referendum, their feelings are clear across the continent

Spanish leftists celebrate their election victory Photo: AFP/Getty

By Telegraph View
26 May 2015
The Telegraph
444 Comments

It is easy, from this island, to think that dissatisfaction with the European Union is a peculiarly British, Right-wing complaint. Only here, it sometimes seems, with all our many centuries of history charged by efforts to repel invaders from the Continent, do we prize our sovereignty as it deserves to be prized.

Other countries just do not get it, we say to ourselves. Unlike us they delight in the machinations of Brussels bureaucracy. They are ensnared in its regulatory diktats yet revel, not resist. And even on these shores, it can easily appear that only one side of the political debate has woken up to Europe’s meddling, and is duly riled.

Labour, after all, would have made no move to reform our relationship with the EU and then hold a referendum afterwards. That has been a Conservative promise, and a Conservative promise delivered.

It is right that, as Downing Street outlined yesterday, the EU referendum, when it comes, will be restricted to those who voted for it in the general election this month. This is not a conspiracy to rig the vote, as some have spuriously claimed, but an entirely proper move that will actually exclude some Britons (expats who have lived abroad for a long time) as well as those EU citizens living in the UK.

In fact the reality is that citizens of other countries on the Continent do have a vote on their relationship with the EU, and are exercising it. In Spain and in Poland this weekend, elections have taken place which signal a dramatic popular disapproval with the status quo. In Poland, President Bronislaw Komorowski was defeated by his conservative rival, Andrzej Duda.

Mr Duda’s political platform is one of national pride and traditional, Catholic values. During his campaign he voiced criticisms of the EU which might seem familiar. The EU should not, he said, “be a structure which is associated by its citizens with prohibitions, orders and complicated regulations”. Instead, he said, he was keen on “strengthening the guarantee of sovereignty within the framework of national legislation”.

Eurosceptic Andrzej Duda on Sunday (Photo: AP)

In Spain, voters in local elections also delivered a stunning rejection of the political orthodoxy. This time the challenge came from the Left, with the anti-austerity party Podemos surging to reshape the democratic landscape, even taking control of Barcelona. In both countries the results came as a surprise.

In both, the incumbents delivered reasonable growth. What they did not deliver was the sense that they were governing primarily for their own people. They were punished as a result. The people of Europe are indeed voting. Their feelings are clear.

All across Europe, the dissatisfaction is clear - Telegraph