THE FORGOTTEN AND DISENFRANCHISED 1.2 MILLION: WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD BY MPs

Speaker John Bercow   Photo: The Guardian AP

EuroCitizens has participated in British in Europe campaigns involving the lobbying of Members of Parliament. Whilst some MPs have been very sympathetic to us, many people in our group have either received no reply or been directly told that the MP cannot deal with the query as the person writing is no longer resident in the constituency. EuroCitizens Secretary Nigel Aston thus wrote a very reasonable letter about this subject to House of Commmons Speaker John Bercow. Apparently, there is nothing he can do about the refusal of MPs to answer us as he 'has no responsibility for the way in which MPs choose to deal with constituency affairs' (see correspondence below).

We will follow Mr Bercow's suggestion to write to the Electoral Commission but our only hope seems to be the Overseas Electors' Bill, a private member's bill plodding very slowly through the House of Commons. It has the support of the government, but it appears that the Labour Party is against it so the initiative might well go the same way as other attempts to restore our vote.

  

Remember that, after March 29, we will lose all our political rights as EU citizens and thus be unable to vote anywhere. What makes this situation even worse is the fact that our concerns can be ignored by MPs. We are completely on our own now.

Help us to help you by donating to British in Europe:

http:// https://britishineurope.org/donate-today/

Correspondence:

Reply from John Bercow's office:

Dear Mr Aston,

Mr Speaker has asked me to thank you for your email of 16 November and to respond on his behalf.

The Speaker has asked me to say that he regrets that he is unable to intervene. He has no responsibility for the actions of Members outside the Chamber of the House of Commons; the way in which Members of Parliament choose to deal with constituency affairs and their correspondence is entirely a matter for themselves. There is no Parliamentary or other body which deals with complaints of this nature against Members of Parliament.

With regards to the rules surrounding representation in Parliament for British nationals who have moved abroad, Mr Speaker suggests that you may wish to contact the Electoral Commission to raise your concerns.

 ....................................................................................................................................

Letter from Nigel Aston to the Speaker of the House of Commons:

Dear Mr Speaker

I am writing to you almost from a sense of desperation.

As you are aware,  UK citizens, such as myself, living outside the UK for 15 years or more are not entitled to inclusion in respective electoral rolls.

You will be equally aware of the heightened level of lobbying of MPs over the terms of the UK´s exit from the European Union.  My issue, and that of my organisation, is that a number of Members of Parliament (not all) are reluctant to handle, indeed in some cases not even acknowledge, correspondence from individuals who cannot supply a current address in the constituency in which they last lived.  We are aware of cases ignored  where a current address cannot be supplied even though the individual is still technically a constituent under the provisions of the 15 year rule. Consequently large numbers of UK citizens have no channel through which to direct their concerns.  In the case of "Brexit", we are the people potentially most impacted by the consequences.

As some MPs are prepared to handle correspondence, presumably there is an absence of common rules on this matter or that the rules are applied unevenly. Could I please ask that you intervene to establish a common practice that UK citizens, irrespective of the length of time away from the UK, can expect their concerns to be taken seriously by the member for the constituency in which they were last resident?

I understand why MPs need to be satisfied that an individual has a genuine connection with their constituency in order not to encroach on issues that fall to colleagues, but surely there is scope for common sense to prevail.

Many thanks in anticipation of your consideration.