A senior politician in Britain’s largest opposition force said on Sunday that the British Labor Party is considering extending universal voting rights to European Union citizens living in Great Britain if it comes to power.
Jonathan Reynolds, who is expected to be the Labor shadow minister responsible for business, said on British public television’s Sunday Politics show that: According to the Labor Party view, there are arguments in favor of those who live in Great Britain and contribute to the growth of country, they could be part of the operational process of British democracy, MTI writes. Reynolds added that discussions on the issue were continuing within the Labor Party as part of the development of the election programme.
Citizens of EU member states who live legally in Great Britain are required to register on the British Electoral List, just like British citizens, but currently they can only vote in British local government, Welsh and Scottish legislative elections, not in Great Britain’s national parliamentary elections.
The only exception to this is the Irish nationals who live in Great Britain due to the two countries’ shared past that goes back centuries.
In the BBC program on Sunday, the Labor politician practically confirmed the information published by the conservative British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph, according to which, according to the plans of the Labor Party, citizens of the European Union who have received official stable status from the British authorities can participate in the British parliamentary elections. In the future.
Great Britain left the European Union on January 31, 2020, after the EU membership referendum in summer 2016 was won by a slim majority of 51.89 percent.
However, EU nationals who have settled legally in Great Britain until the end of 2020, the 11-month transitional period that began after the end of British membership in the European Union (Brexit), can continue to remain in the country, while retaining all their on him. For this purpose, they can apply for a residence permit – officially known as EU Settled Status – for an indefinite period.
According to the latest data from the UK Home Office, more than seven million EU citizens, including 172,000 Hungarians, have done so by the end of 2022.
The general experience is that more than 90 per cent of settlement requests submitted are approved by the British authorities. Sir John Curtis, president of Britain’s largest polling house (BPC), and Britain’s most respected election expert, told the Sunday Telegraph: EU citizens living in Great Britain are more likely than average to oppose Brexit, and for that very reason, They will oppose Britain’s exit from the European Union. Less likely to vote for the deeply Eurosceptic ruling Conservative Party.
Speaking to the BBC, Greg Hands, the head of the Conservative Party, said on Sunday: Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labor Party, wants to smuggle Britain back into the EU by extending the right to vote.
(Cover photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
