EU Nationals: Voting Rights
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing EU citizens with settled status in the UK the right to vote in local and parliamentary elections.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
EU citizens who were legally resident in the UK prior to withdrawal from the EU, or whose countries have a bilateral reciprocal voting rights agreement with the UK, can vote in local elections in England and Northern Ireland.
Citizens of EU Member States have never been able to vote in UK general election based on that citizenship. The Government has no plans to change this.
The franchise for local and devolved government elections in Scotland and Wales is a matter for the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru respectively.
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