You might be surprised at just how many people can potentially vote in elections held in the UK. Go on guess. There are about 53 million people here officially. But how many people, as long as they have permission to enter the country and stay here, could choose to vote in our elections?
I’ll give you a clue. It’s a lot more than 53 million people. Hang on, you will surely insist. Many of the 53 million people living here in the UK are children, and some are prisoners serving their sentences, and one is Her Majesty the Queen. So it must be impossible that more people could potentially vote than actually live here. Or perhaps you think that I mean that various ex-pats, driven out of Spain by the economic downturn, could return to the UK on their British passports and swell the number of voters. Well of course that is true.
But by my calculations, the number of people who can vote in the UK if they have permission to enter and stay here is about THREE BILLION PEOPLE!
Did you read that carefully. There are about three billion people in the world who have the right to vote in the UK. And of that three billion people only about 2% are actually British citizens.
What a load of rubbish I hear you shouting at your computer screen. Surely, you insist, our fathers and grandfathers fought for the security of democracy in the British Isles, not so that every Tom, Dick and Harry could register their vote. Could it be so? Did Emily Davison throw herself in front of the King’s horse (if she did of course) with the intention of extending the franchise to half the population of the world?
Let me assure you that perhaps it is not quite as bad as I have painted, but it is certainly worse than you had ever imagined. There is a very good chance, especially in our urban centres where migration is most obvious, that the man standing in front of you in the queue at the polling station is not a British citizen.
If you thought that the vote was a privilege extended only to citizens you would be wrong. Of course in most other countries it is just that. The vote isn’t handed out as a reward for just living somewhere. It is a precious benefit owned only by those who belong to the national community, by birth or by adoption. In the US, for instance, to be able to vote you must be an American citizen and be resident in one of the states. In India it is the same. Those entitled to vote must be Indian citizens over 18 years of age and normally resident in one of the Indian constituencies. And in Australia, where there is compulsory voting, the electorate is made up of adult Australian citizens resident in Australia, with the exception of a reducing number of British subjects who had registered to vote more than 30 years ago and are still allowed to do so.
But in the UK things are very different.
In the UK every citizen of the Irish republic is allowed to vote in Local, European and General Elections as long as they are living in the UK and add their name to the electoral roll. Well perhaps that is OK. We have close relationships with the Irish Republic, and they are almost British. But beyond the Irish, every citizen of every country in the European Union can register to vote here in the UK in our Local and European elections, as long as they are resident in a UK constituency. There is a helpful online form. In about 2 minutes you can complete the simple questions, sign the bottom, and within a couple of weeks be registered to vote, all before unpacking your suitcase!
Now perhaps you might think that it is reasonable to allow Europeans, even though they are not British citizens, to vote in our Local and European elections. Surely we are all Europeans now? And migrants use local services as much as anyone. Well, it may be an attractive argument, but in fact it presupposes that it is more important to be a European citizen than a British one, and that is fatal for democracy in the UK. The political and social culture of the UK should be determined by citizens, and not by those who have simply taken up residence.
We can imagine a scenario in Kent for instance, at the important harbour town of Dover. In the last local elections only 5,800 people out of the electorate of 22,000 voted. It is impossible to say how many of those voting were not British citizens, but if we imagine a situation where a councillor wished to promote some relationship with Calais that was not widely supported by the British citizens of Dover, he could be elected on a mandate which relied on non-British voters.
This certainly happens in other parts of the country, because it is not only the 500 million citizens of the EU who have the right to vote in Local and European elections in the UK even while not being British citizens. In fact this privilege is extended to all members of the Commonwealth, as long as they are resident in the UK or have the right of entry. Yes, it is part of our electoral law that every Pakistani, Bangaldeshi and Indian, every Australian, Canadian and New Zealander, has the right to vote in every one of our British elections as long as they are resident here.
You won’t be allowed to vote in any of those countries of course. They protect their democracy by restricting participation in it to those who have citizenship. But in the UK our Government has opened it up to the entire Commonwealth. 3 billion people around the world have the right to vote and determine the direction of our nation simply by reason of being resident. And this right is certainly taken up, especially by some of the communities in the UK. It is possible for a Bangladeshi migrant to be granted access to the UK and vote in a UK General Election as soon as the registration to vote has been processed. This results in local communities of British citizens discovering that their democratic representation is rapidly dominated and subverted by the presence of large migrant groups. It is not necessary for these groups to become citizens, they are provided with the right to vote as soon as they are settled.
So I was not wrong. There are billions of people around the world who have the right to vote in our elections, without gaining citizenship, just by virtue of being resident in the UK. We can imagine that a Pakistani migrant could arrive in the UK, register to vote, return to Pakistan, and claim a Postal Vote to participate in the 2015 General Election. But there are many more who will be resident in the UK, not hold British citizenship, and will still be able to influence the outcome of every election.
Much worse than even this situation is the fact that it is not even necessary to be a British Citizen to stand for election in the UK. A Pakistani citizen could stand as a Councillor or even an MP, and be elected by a local electorate who were also Pakistani citizens rather than British citizens. It would be possible under electoral law to have Ministers, a Mayor of London, and even a Prime Minister who was no a British citizen.
Democracy is not served well by extending the franchise to half of the world’s population. No other nations have so debased their electoral process. On the contrary each one properly reserves the right to vote to those who are citizens, either by birth or by adoption of nationality. There is an ulterior motive in allowing so many who are not British citizens to determine the future of our nation. It is the expectation that if the voice and will of the British people is diluted then the various social and political changes which are being imposed upon us will be more easily achieved.
UKIP should adopt the simple principle that only British citizens may vote in any election in Britain, whether Local, European or General. It is impossible for democracy to be restored and renewed if the privilege of voting for representatives is both given to any who happen to live in the UK, and is disconnected from the privilege of Citizenship. The adoption of such a policy by UKIP would be popular and easily understood. The example of every other nation in the world provides an overwhelming argument.
well yes. Obvious policy for UKIP.
I think one problem will be EU regs for the local and euro parliament elections. But UKIP want out of the EU anyway.
Is this old law or has stuff changed? when?
This is law which has been repeatedly re-enforced since the days of empire. It was last re-enforced in 2005 I think.
Verity has made this point many times, and like so many other issues it makes perfect sense.
So no chance then.
But.
Things are changing ,there is a feeling that all this nonsense we have been fed is unraveling .
It may take time but I feel Nigel has arrived at the fork in the road, to help people looking for a new direction to travel.
He’s certainly made the other party’s open gates which were firmly closed.
BTW why are Irish allowed to vote? They are an independent country. That should stop immediately.
Well Pakistan is an independent country too? So is India and Bangladesh.
There was a reciprocal arrangement with the Irish Republic which they stopped and we (naturally) didn’t.
The writer has the figure for official number of people living here, he took it from the 2011 census for _ENGLAND_ and not the UK
I mean he got the figure wrong
Seems like a weird thing to worry about when the turnout in elections is usually, what, like, a third of the electorate?
The trouble is that the third of the electorate who are voting might well not be British at all. Are you happy having non-British people voting to decide national affairs?
Sure. There are 63 million in the UK. That doesn’t change the point. There can be no national democracy if everyone who turns up gets to vote even if they are not British citizens.
No other country I can find allows non-citizens to vote. There is a reason for this.
Voting in a democracy is the way for us to express our preferences about how the country should be run. I believe it is right that residents can vote, as they contribute to taxation just as much as British citizens, and obey all the same laws. Unless the author can demonstrate that unethical practices are taking place, (i.e. people being shipped over from France to support a particular party, then going back) there isn’t any reason that this should be the policy of any party.
Then you can’t believe in nationality or in society at all. You are saying that a person who has just arrived is as British as someone whose family has lived here for a thousand years.
Even left wing thinkers and writers reject such a view. David Goodhart is insistent that citizenship must be reinvigorated so that it is seen as a privilege again, otherwise there cannot be a society, just a bunch of residents.
You are entitled to your views but they are not held by leading thinkers on the left. And the fact that no other country in the world simply allows residents to vote shows that it is not normal or supportive of democracy.
It is of course essentially undemocractic because none of us who are British citizens have been allowed to determine whether we want citizenship to mean nothing.
Of course it is also the case that a great many migrants do not contribute ANY taxation, or do not contribute any NET taxation. Government reports points out that Muslims are disproportionately unemployed. Pakistanis are mostly unemployed, and almost all Somalians are unemployed. But all Pakistanis can vote. There is no reason why people who are not British should be able to determine the government of Britain. Not one of us can vote in Pakistani elections.
When I was living in Ireland – last year – I could have voted. I chose not to, because I didn’t know anything about the Irish political system. But British citizens do have the right to vote in ROI elections, if resident there.
British citizens can only vote in the Local and Dail ROI elections, not for President.
Still no reason for Irish to vote in all UK elections.
Either being British means something or it means nothing. To those who wish anyone to be able to vote in the UK it means nothing.
It is a matter of history and Britain’s place in the world.In brief;I say all Subjects of H.M.Dominions and Territories should have the vote,as should citizens of the Republic of Ireland.Other Commonwealth citizens should [maybe] not have the vote.Foreigners [ie. european `citizens`] should not have the vote.——–All these are items which need to be developed individually[which I shall try to do later].
I believe in the ever closer and nearer-to-perfect union of all Her Majesties Dominions and Territories.All H.Ms. Subjects should have equal rights in the Mother Country.At my last count their were about equal numbers in the U.K.and the Dominions.Ninety % of the latter were in the advanced `western `[not to say,white]Dominions.Of the others:half are in the West Indies(& half of these are in Jamaica);the other half in Papua-New Guinea[who are not orientated in this direction].We can afford to cope with these. //———-//I am appalled by the restriction now imposed upon us by (ie.) Australia;but these are the consequence of the actions of the Arch-Traitor Heath. Britannia has to now win back her Daughters.//————//In a `public attitude` poll conducted by *Chatham House*[Europe/reports] there was overwhelming support for Australia and Canada as the countries we had the most favorable views of.
“British citizens can only vote in the Local and Dail ROI elections, not for President” Well…british subjects (officially we’re not citizens) can’t choose the UK head of state either, so that’s kind of an invalid point. Also David Goodhart is more new labour (ie centre-right) than left wing, so he can hardly be a leading thinker of the left. As an internationalist I’m really not that bothered, and as a marxist I view the democracy we have as a barely accountable veneer for the survival of capitalist society, so I’m even less bothered due to that.
As for your claim that “Government reports points out that Muslims are disproportionately unemployed. Pakistanis are mostly unemployed, and almost all Somalians are unemployed” I’d need to see a source for that, as The government usually measures by ethnicity rather than religion.
While a slim majority of pakistanis are out of work, I’m sure you’ll note (www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/employment-of-foreign-workers/employment-of-foreign-workers-male-and-female-labour-market-participation/employment-of-foreign-workers–male-and-female-labour-market-participation.pdf) that the majority of these are women, and the number of households wit no work is 17.9% (www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/working-and-workless-households/2010/table-2-iv–working-age-people-by-ethnic-origin-and-combined-economic-activity-status-of-household.xls). Logical conclusion is that these are patriachal households where the men go and get jobs and the women stay at home.
Somalian employment is low (first source), although there’s no data I can see as to why. There’s plenty of legitimate reasons: language barriers, difficulty getting hired etc. The employment rate of somalians did almost double between ’98 and ’08, so I suspect the availability of work played a role.
On top of all of this a great many british people do not contribute any taxation, usually because they can’t find work or because they’re not paid enough to be taxed. Are you saying that they shouldn’t get a vote? If not why, considering that, when you come down to it, we’re all immigrants?
“The trouble is that the third of the electorate who are voting might well not be British at all. Are you happy having non-British people voting to decide national affairs?”
Might not be, but almost certainly are.
“Of course it is also the case that a great many migrants do not contribute ANY taxation, or do not contribute any NET taxation.”
Source?
Official figures from the Equality people.
There is a letter to be found, currently, on VOTER FRAUD in respect of Postal Voting.The writer,from experiance,says there was no fraud before Labour decided to make it easier to vote.SEE http://www.thepressnews.co.uk/TheForum.asp