Joe Duggan (Reporter)
BRITISH ambassador Simon Manley will speak about the importance of getting registered to vote in the EU referendum in Malaga this Friday.
Our man in Madrid will be supporting the Electoral Commission’s global campaign in Spain at Hotel Vincci from 10.15 am.
Mr Manley will unveil a new poster and social media graphics to encourage overseas voting.
Whilst I cannot attend I’d like to know from him what’s happening regarding the High Court case being prepared/put forward/ or even concluded with an outcome that will allow Brits who have not been registered for 15 years, to now not only register but to register in time to place a vote in the forthcoming referendum. I believe there was some talk of the referendum even being postponed to allow such folks who could then register, to do so.
David: That was discussed at the meeting (which I did attend) and you may now be aware that the case you refer to (which was started by 2 ex-pats living in Italy) has failed. However, the UK government had nothing to do with that court case and it failed due to the current situation being part of UK law (plus, if it had succeeded, the referendum would have had to be cancelled, meaning the loss of millions of UK taxpayers pounds that had already been spent……), HOWEVER, it was also mentioned that David Cameron remains fully behind amending this law, but that due to the way things work in the UK – it isn’t going to be any time soon (years, rather than months), as it has to be discussed in parliament, a bill passed, then it goes to the lords – gets amended, re-discussed in the commons etc, etc, etc……… eventually leading to a (hopefully) successful conclusion, but I would be more inclined to be hoping that its done before the next general election rather than the current referendum. It is being pursued, but unfortunately, its such a ridiculously slow process getting anything passed in the UK parliament that we just have to be patient. I’ve now been here 12 years myself, and am hoping I never loose the right to vote – but no one can presently say just when this is CHANGE IN THE LAW is going to happen.