Expat Brits ‘voteless’ if not on roll

Many expat Britons may miss out on voting in UK’s election because they are no longer enrolled.

Perth-based British academic Shamit Saggar has urged expatriate Britons to check their electoral status as the UK roll is refreshed annually and they may not be on it. Picture: Kym Smith

British academic Shamit Saggar made his “Brexit Exit” to a new job in Perth earlier this year, but he has kept a close eye on events unfolding back home and plans to vote in Britain’s December 12 election.

What shocks Saggar, a former civil servant familiar with UK’s political system, is that from his expat’s vantage point he now views his country’s electoral system as “complicated, archaic and arcane”.

The British High Commission in Canberra estimates that around 1.2 million Brits in Australia may possibly have voting rights, but nobody is sure of the real number.

MORE: The back-to-Brexit poll — Your guide | Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage won’t run in UK election | Questions over Russia links of Boris Johnson adviser Dominic Cummings | 20,000 add voices to Scotland’s push for independence

Owning a British passport does not make one eligible to vote, especially if a person has lived outside the UK for more than 15 years. The High Commission is urging British nationals to check their eligibility, and to do it quickly. The urgency lies in Boris Johnson’s hasty decision to go to the people in six weeks’ time.

When Australia holds a federal election, expatriates who want to vote can turn up at their Australian embassy or consulate overseas and cast a vote. But British expatriates wanting to vote in a UK election have no such privilege; no British diplomatic office anywhere in the world offers that service.

Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson, left, and Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, right.

Within hours of hearing about an imminent UK election, Saggar — who runs the Institute of Public Policy at the University of Western Australia — was shocked to confront the complexity of trying to vote while overseas.

“Firstly you have to be on the electoral roll, which is compiled every year and refreshed every November. But most people don’t realise that if you go overseas, you must re-register as an overseas resident. It’s no use telling them ‘I’ve just gone overseas but I’m on the roll’.

“Our family of four adult voters naively thought we were on the electoral roll, but it turns out we were in the wrong category. Nobody knows this stuff, and I’m a political scientist who has written books on electoral behaviour.

“Secondly, you have to apply for a postal or a proxy vote. In our case, we went for a proxy vote. But there are limitations on the number of proxy votes you can give to a close family member, who must be a living parent, child or sibling.

A Union flag waves against the backdrop of the clock facade of the Elizabeth Tower, which holds the bell known Big Ben in London.

“We’ve only got our 25-year-old daughter back in the UK, and she is only permitted to take on three proxy votes. The problem is there is me, my wife and two adult children who want to vote. So one of four perfectly eligible voters who could vote if we were sitting in our house in London is likely to be disenfranchised.

“And there are an awful lot of Brits living all over the world, leaving temporarily to work just like our family.”

Saggar, who worked in former Labor prime minister Tony Blair’s administration, supports the calling of the election as “the necessary way to break the deadlock”.

But the outcome of the Brexit-focused election may hang on slim margins in many of the 650 House of Commons’ seats, he says. “With an election just weeks away, it’s cutting things fine for people to sort out their electoral status.”