Thank you for your email of 16 June 2023 to the Minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, about voting rights for British expats living overseas. Electoral policy now sits within the remit of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. I have been asked to respond as this query falls within my remit.
You mentioned you are aware that the Government is in the process of reinstating the voting rights of UK citizens who have lived abroad for more 15 years and asked for an update about timelines. The Elections Act completed its passage through Parliament and gained Royal Assent on 28 April 2022.
The provisions in the Act deliver on the manifesto commitment to remove the 15-year limit and will extend the franchise for UK Parliamentary Elections to all British citizens living overseas who have been previously registered or previously resident in the UK.
The Government is currently working on the secondary legislation which will create the processes that will enable those newly enfranchised to register to vote and to deliver additional improvements for overseas electors. This includes the processes relating to the verification of an applicant’s past UK address.
The current intention remains that votes for life will be delivered ahead of the next General Election. Accordingly, the secondary legislation to deliver the overseas electors change is expected to be made and come into force in January 2024. Once this secondary legislation has come into force, overseas electors will be able to apply to register. The online Register to Vote service will be updated at the same point.
More detail on the Government’s intentions for this legislation are set out in our policy paper, Overseas electors: Delivering ‘Votes for Life’ for British Expatriates, 3 February 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-electors-delivering-votes-for-life-for-british-expatriates/overseas-electors-delivering-votes-for-life-for-british-expatriates
