Expats fight for right to referendum vote

Expatriates who want to be allowed to vote in the European Union referendum are taking their case to the High Court.

They are urgently challenging restrictions which lawyers estimate are preventing up to two million Britons living in Europe from voting on June 23.

Those seeking a judicial review include 94-year-old Second World War veteran Harry Shindler, who lives in Italy, and lawyer and Belgian resident Jacquelyn MacLennan.

Both claim that under the EU Referendum Act 2015 they are being denied the right to vote on the UK’s continued membership of the EU, having lived outside the UK for over 15 years.

Ms MacLennan is planning to be in court along with Charlotte Oliver, an English lawyer based in Rome who runs her own practice in the Italian capital, and who is supporting the legal action.

Lawyers for the claimants, who are represented by solicitors firm Leigh Day, will argue that excluding UK expats who have lived elsewhere in the EU for more than 15 years acts as a disincentive from, and a penalty for, their exercising their free movement rights as EU residents.

The judicial review of the legislation, if successful, should require the Government to rush through amending legislation to change the franchise for the referendum, according to Richard Stein of Leigh Day.

Mr Stein said: “This legal action should not delay the referendum, the Government should instead stand by its promises and give a ‘vote for life’ to British citizens.”