Your article (Britons living abroad regain right to vote in UK elections as 15-year rule ends, 16 January) says the concept of a lifelong vote is not universally supported in parliament, adding that Paul Scriven, a Liberal Democrat life peer, “questioned how it could be right that someone who had not lived in the UK for 50 years could have a say in policies that did not directly affect them”.
We would like to add that Hansard of 23 February 2022 shows Lord Scriven welcoming the extension of the right to vote to all British citizens abroad while expressing his concern about it leaving the door open for “the use of donations from very rich people … who will fund a particular party in this country”.
The Liberal Democrat party has fully supported all British citizens abroad getting the vote back in both their 2017 and 2019 manifestos.
Lib Dem peers Chris Rennard and William Wallace backed the elections bill during its passage through the House of Lords in 2022, including submitting an amendment on establishing overseas constituencies to ensure proper representation for British citizens living abroad.
Lib Dems Abroad, in partnership with the Electoral Commission and other political and apolitical organisations, is now busy promoting overseas voter registration in the run-up to the next general election.
Lib Dems Abroad believes, as a matter of principle, that overseas voters should be treated equitably to those who continue to live in the UK, especially given British citizens overseas now have full democratic rights. The needs and interests of overseas voters need to be taken properly into account in UK legislation.
The party is fully behind this change – and indeed wants to go further.
George Cunningham
Chair, Lib Dems Abroad Steering Committee
