The opposition Labour Party wants to explore the possibility of giving EU citizens resident in the UK the right to vote in general elections. It would also like to lower the voting age to sixteen.
At present, EU citizens legally residing in the UK are already eligible to vote in some local elections. Commonwealth citizens, however, can vote in general elections. For Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, it would be perfectly normal to go further and extend the voting franchise in general elections to EU nationals: these citizens “contribute to our economy,” and “are part of our community.” They should therefore be able to vote, he says. Starmer explained on LBC:
Let’s take someone who has been here for 30 years, has literally put down their roots here, is married to a Brit and has kids here. This is where they live, this is where they contribute, it’s very hard to say you should be voting back in your country of origin, it doesn’t pass the common sense test for me.
The right for EU citizens to vote in local elections in the country where they reside—even if they are not nationals—already exists in many European countries. In France, for example, EU citizens have the right to vote in municipal and European elections. In Spain, this is also possible in municipal elections, provided there is a reciprocal agreement with the resident’s country. The difference with the UK is that both France and Spain are EU member states, which is no longer applicable to the UK since the Brexit vote in 2016. Labour’s opponents, therefore, accuse the Starmer-led party of wanting to backtrack, and of looking for a way around Brexit at all costs.
Labour defends itself and says it has accepted Brexit as a given. “There is no plan to reverse Brexit,” Starmer said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve said there’s no case for going back in—we’re going to make Brexit work.”
If Labour’s plan becomes law, an additional 3.4 million voters—EU citizens and British citizens aged 16 and 17—would be added to the electorate.
