Lobby Now to restore your vote, says expat publisher

This Monday, October 29th, the House of Lords begins debate on whether to rescind the 15-year exclusion rule which disallows British expats from voting if they they have lived abroad for 15 years or more. This week we received the following letter from Anita Rieu-Sicart, publisher of the Var Village Voice in southern France, on the subject. We have made some minor edits in the pursuit of brevity.

Attn: British expats:

My name is Anita, and I publish the VAR VILLAGE VOICE which circulates to hundreds of Expats in this region of France. I’ve been here for over 20 years.

We should all be lobbying all the members of the House of Lords – debate starts Monday 29 October –who may vote on the amendment to repeal the 15 year rule, and also for the streamlining of the voting system, to make it easier for expats to vote.

Previously what had gone on, in the debates on the Electoral Reform Bill, was that Geoffrey Clinton-Brown, appeared to backtrack by withdrawing an amendment that asked for lifetime voting rights for British Citizens, repealing the 15 year rule, that we all find so regressive.

This, in army tactical terms, was a totally strategic move, in that such an amendment in Primary Legislation could have been defeated. Now the forces on our side are regrouping to push this amendment through via Secondary Legislation, where it will be far harder to defeat – we hope!

This amendment will be raised by Lord Lexden in the House of Lords, on 29 October, and then will be debated in the Lords 11 November, a historic date for all people.

And much of course depends on majorities in the Lords, party groupings, and specifically independent thinking from Crossbenchers and others in the Lords.

That is where now we all must come in, and try our very best to persuade all those with voting powers of the justice of our campaign.

We have reason and logic on our side. How can a country that prides itself on being the Mother of Parliaments, which is actively espousing democracy, voting rights, everywhere else in the world – Libya, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, you name it – deny voting rights to so many of its citizens, for arcane reasoning, and make voting for expats so incredibly difficult? Heather Harper, new President of Conservatives Abroad is trying to put together a key list of Peers to be lobbied. Right now, because of lack of obvious support by the controlling voting majority, our objectives can only be achieved by great astuteness.

Already amendments are in place hopefully to make voting possible via computer for all those in the UK by 2014, and from that point on, it can only be a short stretch to make it possible to vote via computer for all, especially for those abroad (it might take a little more time, but it can happen)!

The arguments we can put forward are as follows:

We pay out taxes, wherever we are.

We believe in and share core values, hard work, taking responsibility, looking after our children, and our parents to the best of our ability – how many thousands send their children back to the UK for their education?

We are all linked, worldwide, we have computers, read newspapers online, communicate, network, Skype, follow the affairs of the UK online perhaps better that our fellow citizens, resident in the UK.

We are the people who lay the groundwork for export contracts worldwide, who build up the UK GNP- yes the Royals fly in and do sterling work on trade missions, they are the cherry on the cake – but it is expats worldwide with the local knowhow, the contacts who do the essential groundwork for any trade mission. Expats are the entrepreneurs, who startup businesses, and bring home the bacon.

We represent the UK wherever we go, and in the main part, with great credit, we represent the best of Great Britain wherever we go, our political system, our system and idea of ”fair play”, democracy and voting rights for all, Nearly all expats do just that, and very willingly, bringing credit and respect to GB.

Below list of some Peers to be lobbied and their email addresses:

Baroness Royall royallj@parliament.uk (Labour party leader in the Lords)

mcnallyt@parliament.uk (Lib-Dem party leader in the Lords)

Others:

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay oakeshottm@parliament.uk

Lord Wallace of Tankerness wallacej@parliament.uk

Lord Tyler tylerp@parliament.uk

Lord Norton of Louth nortonp@parliament.uk

Lord Jones jonesn@parliament.uk

Baroness Byford byfordh@parliament.uk

Lord Bates batesm@parliament.uk

Lord Astor astorw@parliament.uk