Elections

The Court of Appeal dismissed the claimants’ appeal challenging s 2 of the EU Referendum Act 2015, on the basis that exclusion from franchise of UK citizens who had moved abroad and were last registered to vote in the UIK more than 15 years ago constituted an unjustified restriction on their EU law rights of free movement. The court upheld the decision of the Divisional Court and held that s 2 of the 2015 Act did not fall within the scope of EU law by virtue of Art 50(1) of the Treaty on European Union and, even if it did, s 2 did not restrict the rights of free movement of the claimants or those in the same situation as them.