British in Europe campaigned during the EU-UK negotiations on the UK’s Exit from the EU to protect our EU citizenship rights and has since worked on implementation of those rights enshrined in the Withdrawal Agreement and the rights of UK citizens in the EU generally, currently on a voluntary basis
BiE has also long campaigned to reinstate lifelong voting rights in the UK. This was successful, and the Elections Act 2022 restored lifelong voting rights for UK citizens living overseas, but needs to be implemented.
An estimated 3.4 million UK citizens living overseas are disenfranchised and, in 2016, more than 60% of UK citizens living in the EU had no vote in the UK EU referendum that led to the removal of our EU citizenship rights and changed our lives forever.
British in Europe is pleased to announce that we have secured funding for 12 months from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust to support our campaign to ensure that the secondary implementing legislation is delivered and that it works - so that we can reclaim our voting rights and be registered as voters in time for the next general election. Once that is done, we plan a further phase of work to raise awareness across the UK diaspora and encourage the registration of these new UK citizen voters.
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