Why Voting Rights for EU Citizens Should be on the Political Agenda
| Author | Rob Ford |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905818779331 |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
26 POLITICAL INSIGHT • JUNE 2018
One common argument used
in campaigns to lower the
voting age to 16 is that the
youngest citizens have the
strongest interest in the decisions taken
by government, yet currently have no
say in its formation. This argument has
become particularly popular since the EU
referendum, where large age differences in
choices emerged, which then persisted into
the next general election.
Yet there is a far larger group of British
residents with a strong stake in the
consequences of the EU referendum and yet is
almost completely disenfranchised in national
elections: British residents who migrated
from other EU countries. It is both puzzling
and concerning that the political rights of
the several million citizens resident in Britain,
including many who have made this country
their long-term home, have barely featured in
debate before or after the EU referendum. It is
about time they did.
EU citizens’ rights
The rights of EU citizens have been a
major bone of contention throughout
the Brexit negotiation process – with the
British government agreeing the principle
of guaranteed rights, yet still sketchy on
the details of how this guarantee will
operate. EU citizens do not yet know what
paperwork they will need to fill in to secure
their rights, or what information they will
need to do it. Many are understandably
worried about the terms on which they can
secure their long-term residence rights, a
fear the recent ‘Windrush’ crisis will only
have exacerbated.
The situation might be dierent if MPs
in Parliament had to worry about the votes
of such frustrated EU residents – their large
numbers and unusually even spread across
the country would make them an important
electorate in very many seats. Yet MPs can
rest easy, because the vast majority of EU-
born residents – including those here for
decades – have no voting rights at all in
general elections. They get no such rights as
EU citizens and while they could secure such
rights by taking out British citizenship, most
have not done so.
This behaviour sets EU migrants apart from
every other signicant migrant population in
Britain (see Figure 1). More than 40 per cent of
every single large migrant group from outside
the EU have British citizenship – in many cases
large majorities have it. Migrants from many
Why Voting Rights
for EU Citizens
Should be on the
Political Agenda
Around three million European Union citizens live in the UK. Most are
not eligible to vote in British elections. Rob Ford argues that the time
has come to extend the franchise to EU citizens in the UK.
of these countries don’t even need British
citizenship to vote in British general elections,
as citizens of Commonwealth countries such
as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria
have that right from the moment they take
up residence in Britain. But even non-
Commonwealth migrants have the potential
to make themselves heard at general
elections, as they tend to acquire citizenship
at high rates.
The contrast with EU migrants is striking
(see Figure 2). Only one of the largest EU
migrant communities has high rates of British
citizenship – and that is a special case. Nearly
two thirds of German born migrants to Britain
have British citizenship – but many of these
are the children of British servicemen born
while their parents were serving on armed
forces bases in Germany. After this, the next
highest gure is for Ireland – one in ve Irish
migrants has British citizenship. But Ireland
is an exception in a dierent way, as all Irish
citizens resident in Britain have the right to
vote in British elections.
Citizenship rates for the rest of the EU
migrant communities are very low – less than
one in twenty of the Poles and Romanians
living in Britain has British citizenship, around
one in eight French born residents has it, and
only around one in ten of the Italian, Spanish
and Portuguese born migrant communities.
These large communities are practically
voiceless in British general elections – the
900,000 strong Polish born community in
57%
INDIA
809,000
62%
PAKISTAN
523,000
66%
BANGLADESH
247,000
63%
S.AFRICA
244,000
48%
CHINA
226,000
47%
NIGERIA
190,000
41%
USA
163,000
63%
PHILIPPINES
144,000
59%
SRI LANKA
142,000
44%
AUSTRALIA
135,000
85%
KENYA
128,000
72%
JAMAICA
124,000
4%
POLAND
908,000
19%
IRELAND
397,000
4%
ROMANIA
340,000
64%
GERMANY
300,000
12%
ITALY
221,000
2%
LITHUANIA
189,000
16%
FRANCE
164,000
11%
SPAIN
157,000
8%
PORTUGAL
142,000
4%
LATVIA
102,000
5%
HUNGARY
97,000
8%
BULGARIA
91,000
3%
SLOVAKIA
81,000
15%
NETHERLANDS
67,000
Political Insight June 2018 NEW.indd 26 02/05/2018 15:40
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