Around 3.5 million British citizens living overseas have been given lifelong voting rights in UK’s parliamentary elections.
“As of Tuesday 16th January 2024, the arbitrary 15-year limit on voting rights has been scrapped and British citizens worldwide will be able to register to vote online regardless of how long they have been overseas,” the UK’s ruling Conservative Party said in a statement on Monday.
“This represents the biggest increase in the British electoral franchise since the introduction of full female suffrage in 1928,” the statement read.
Britons abroad will be able to vote by post or proxy at the last UK address they were registered to vote at or lived at, and will remain on the electoral roll for up to three years. Previously, electors has to renew their registration annually, losing their right to vote after 15 years overseas.
According to UK government estimates, the lifting of the 15-year limit would make about 3.5 million British nationals living overseas eligible to vote. There were 233,000 overseas Britons registered to vote in the 2019 general election, which saw the Conservative Party win by a landslide.
However, a YouGov survey of 14,000 people released on Sunday suggested that the Conservatives could expect a crushing defeat in the next election, expected later this year. The poll put the opposition Labour Party firmly in the lead, with a projected 120-seat majority, reflecting voters’ frustrations with declining public services and a cost of living crisis after 13 years of Conservative rule.
Elections Act 2022
The 15-year limit for overseas voters was repealed under the Elections Act 2022, which also introduced the need to show photographic identification when voting in person at polling stations.
While the government maintained it would “ensure the electoral system remains secure, transparent and fair,” a 2023 report published by the cross-party All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and the Constitution found that the voter ID rule “disenfranchises more voters than it protects.”
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