EU and overseas
Rights of EU Citizens
EU citizens will no longer automatically be entitled to register, vote, or stand for election. These changes will apply to all local elections and referendums in England, elections for council and combined authority mayors and Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
Two groups of EU citizens will keep these rights: 'qualifying EU citizens' and 'EU citizens with retained rights'.
Qualifying EU citizens
These are EU citizens who:
- come from countries which have reciprocal agreements with the UK
- have 'leave to remain' in the UK, or who do not need 'leave to remain' in the UK
Currently this means citizens from Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
A reciprocal agreement means that the same rules apply in both the UK and that country. For example, a Spanish citizen in the UK could vote or stand for election in the UK, and a UK citizen in Spain could vote or stand for election in Spain.
EU citizens with retained rights
These are EU citizens who were living in the UK before 1 January 2021 (in other words before the UK left the EU).
We expect that the changes will come into force by spring 2024.
Overseas Electors
The 15-year limit on voting for British citizens living abroad will end. Any British citizen previously registered to vote in the UK, or who previously lived in the UK, will be able to register to vote, regardless of how long they have lived abroad.
British citizens living abroad will be able to register to vote using the address where they were previously registered. If they were never registered to vote, they can register using the last UK address they lived at.
British citizens living abroad will no longer have to register as an overseas voter every year. Instead, they will have to register every three years.
We expect that the changes will come into force by May 2024.