Calls for all British citizens to have right to vote in the EU Referendum
Up to two million Britons resident elsewhere in the EU for more than 15 years could be given the right to vote in the EU Referendum if the Court of Appeal decides in their favour.
Last week, the High Court rejected a legal challenge brought by 94-year-old WWII veteran Harry Shindler and White & Case partner Jacquelyn MacLennan, who live in Italy and Belgium, respectively. However, it has given permission for the case to go to the Court of Appeal.
Leigh Day, acting for the two claimants, argued that British citizens were being unlawfully denied their right to vote under the EU Referendum Act 2015 since the Referendum could lead to them losing their status as EU citizens and the protection of EU law. The claimants argued that the 15-year limit, established by s 2 of the 2015 Act, effectively penalised them for exercising their free movement rights.
Harry Shindler has called on Prime Minister David Cameron to push legislation scrapping the limit through Parliament before the vote.
Richard Stein, partner at Leigh Day, says he will try to take the case to the Supreme Court: “We believe that there is precedent for fast-track legislation being put through Parliament in a matter of days in response to court judgment, so there would be no need for the referendum to be delayed if the Supreme Court rules in our favour.
“Since this is a vote in a referendum rather than in an election there is no need to link the votes of Britons in Europe to any particular constituency in the UK. Possession of a British passport should be enough.”
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Theresa May, who supports Britain staying in the EU, ruffled feathers by calling for an exit from the European Convention on Human Rights because “it can bind the hands of Parliament”.
Writing in NLJ this week, Michael Zander QC, emeritus professor, LSE, accuses May of being “simply incorrect”.
“The Human Rights Act 1989 only requires the courts of this country ‘to take account’ of decisions of the Strasbourg Court,” he points out, whereas “UK courts can set aside Acts of Parliament in breach of EU law”.
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