London - Undemocratic, this is the right word describing the British electoral system which excludes its citizens living abroad and EU citizens in UK from general elections. Look at the electoral register and see people from Antigua, Bahamas, Botswana, Zimbabwe and all the Commonwealth countries can have their say on who rule the UK.
The ‘post-imperial’ electoral system gives ex colonies citizens the right to vote in the country which once exploited their own, and this is absolutely right and fair. But it is utterly unjust citizens from the neighbouring countries living in the UK and the British abroad (who lose the right to vote after a number of years) are excluded from the democratic process by the law since 1969. Why? Is it just for chance or this is the result of the British crossparty establishment's 'domestic defence policy'?
The answer is complex and touches the very founding process of democracy. Every political establishment, in every country, defends itself from whom considers, and wrongly classifies, as defector. This means those who flee their countries of origin are perceived as potential political defectors able to detect the structural, systemic failures of political systems in the countries they left: people emigrate when understand there is no hope for change. But why then Indian or Pakistani, for instance, living in the UK take part to national elections and have MPs representing their communities in the House of Commons while European origin and British expats don't?
Firstly because they are from former colonies and Commonwealth citizens, secondly because nearly all Commonwealth countries (except for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and perhaps few others), are not democracies comparable to the EU ones (exceptions here as well starting from Hungary) therefore people from Nigeria or Malawi have de facto a different political awareness and might not be able to promote changes in the structural system of an advanced democracy such as Britain.
Today the campaign to give British citizens living abroad and EU citizens in UK full political rights launched by Another Europe is Possible, The 3 Million and British in Europe marks a radical change in support of democracy in Great Britain, and goes far and beyond Brexit. The fight is for a fair and just society representing all and for a political system no longer allowed to hide and perpetrate exclusion in the name of a dead ‘post-imperialist’ establishment.
Let Us Vote: campaign and petition launched by Another Europe is Possible, British in Europe and The3Million
African unsustainable development between EU grants and China loans
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London, 23 July 2020 - The future of EU citizens in the UK and British in the Union is at stake; today more than ever. Maike Bohn, co-founder of The3million, the largest campaign organisation for the rights of EU citizens in Britain, warns that "with no-deal Brexit any hope of continuing social security and healthcare coordination for all has gone up in smoke, which means that it will be much more complicated for the smaller group of 3.6 million EU citizens in the UK to get those rights in practice".
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She talks in exclusive with Talkeurope on the sad day EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier stressed the unwillingness from the UK side to reach an agreement.
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"No deal also means any lingering hope that our friends British in Europe might have had of still securing their rights in EU member states other than their own is definitely gone- Maike Bohn explains - they will lose Freedom of Movement and only be allowed to live and work in their current country of residence: a huge blow to the many cross-border workers".
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The Home Office stated the vast majority of EU citizens have been given Settled Status and just few thousands a pre-settled status is that true? What sort of help is available to EU citizens who have lived in the UK for decades and instead have been given pre-settled status only?
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"It is not true to say the vast majority of EU citizens have been given Settled Status – current grants of pre-settled status are over 1,4 million. That is more than the high estimate of 1.4million, and much more than the low estimate of 0.9million anticipated in the EUSS Impact Assessment the Home Office itself published in March 2019.
Maike Bohn, co-founder at The3million
With one year to go to apply we are particularly worried about vulnerable people missing on, e.g. children and the elderly. They often depend on carers and others to make the application on their behalf. According to the Home Office's own data only 11% of 9000 EU children in care have Settled Status. A large number of elderly people have been in the UK for a long time and are only offered pre-settled status. We need to make sure they don’t accept a lesser status and the UK government needs to give them more localised assistance".
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Is the Coronavirus crisis making things worse?
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"The COVID crisis has shown that pre-settled status is an inferior status and many EU citizens holding it have struggled to access benefits. People who have wrongly accepted pre-settled status are currently told to just make another application. This also causes a problem as the official statistics include double-applications, i.e. the same person applying for pre-settled and then months later for settled status. So we have no conclusive data on how well the scheme is performing as the UK government does not know how many EU citizens and their families live in the UK.
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Are EU citizens in the UK currently discriminated against? Is the fact they do not have the right to vote leading to discrimination and marginalisation?
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"We see first signs of discrimination but the real problems will start in January 2021 when landlords, employers, banks, doctors, schools, university and many other bodies need to check people’s immigration status. Settled Status is a digital-only status and EU citizens are the only group in the UK that will not have a physical document. We have already heard from the Landlord’s Association that only 3 out of 150 landlords would be prepared to do digital checks. We anticipate a lot of problems and are pushing the government to consider issuing a paper-based document to avoid this kind of discrimination. It would also make EU citizens feel more secure if they had a tangible proof of their hard-earned right to live and work in the UK.
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With regard to the right to vote The3Million is asking the UK government to keep our right to vote in local elections. Removing this democratic right would mean EU citizens have no political representation and no voice. Wales and Scotland have already agreed to this and we are urging the UK government to join them and make sure EU citizens have a stake in how their communities are run."
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Are EU citizens in Britain a strong community, or are they substantially divided?
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"This is a very good question! Until the referendum, Europeans in Britain did not think of themselves as members of a minority. Many had lived in Britain for decades. The broken promise that their lives wouldn’t change and the strong anti-immigration rhetoric used to win votes changed all this. What unites us is our love of Freedom of Movement, of our diversity as a group – mirroring Europe’s diversity – and a shared fight for democratic rights.
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Britain is our home and most of us have nowhere else to ‘go back to’. It is therefore crucial that organisations like the3million make sure EU citizens do not become the next Windrush scandal with thousands denied their rightful existence in the country they call home."
The no-deal catastrophe
Maike Bohn (The3Million): "first signs of discrimination, but the real problems will start in January 2021".