EXPATS living on the Costa del Sol could have their own MP under Liberal Democrat plans for overseas constituencies.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg wants MPs representing British nationals in Europe, Africa and North America in order to create a ‘fairer’ Parliament.

British expats can currently still vote for 15 years, with their votes counted in their old constituency.

Under the Lib Dem plans, expected to be approved at the Spring party conference, MPs would provide expats with a voice back in the UK.

Many European countries already have a system like this in place. France, for example, has six seats spread across Europe, two in Africa, two in America and one in Asia.

The plans, titled Power to the People, also include lowering the voting age to 16, a special seat for the House of Commons speaker and allowing two people to work part-time collaboratively as one MP.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. An interesting article and suggestion.I assume the use of the title Costa del Sol is shorthand for Spain as there are obviously many British expats here who do not live on the Costa.
    I am constanly amazed at the apparent apathy of fellow expats to the question of the Tories’s EU referendum. If it goes ahead, and Cameron is deperminted it will, the UK might well ‘sleep walk’ out of the EU. British citizens will lose their right of residence/and or conditions, including financial may be placed on those wishing to remain here. If Nick Clegg is serious about staying in the Union he might be advised to start insuring now that all British expats here and in other EU countries are given the right to vote. I am told we are talking about more than one and half million votes. Perhaps the Olive Press could get things moving.Natural justice would surely demand that we have a vote in our future.

  2. @Charles Butters
    I had a petition running on the yougov site(now expired) calling for ex pats to have a vote. I started this over a year ago and the Olive Press gave me support via publicity in their on line and printed paper. It was picked up and published in the Daily Telegraph and published on various ex pat sites around the world. The response was very poor, it appears most ex pats take no interest in these matters until it is too late, at which time they will scream blue murder and say why didn’t somebody do something about this, to them as Michael Jackson would say “Look in the mirror”.

  3. If you believe this, you probably still believe this lying toe-rag will fight against tuition fees. Face it, he’s nothing more than Cameron’s poodle. He won’t, or more accurately, can’t, do anything against Tory wishes.

  4. He lost the argument on changing the voting system and reforming the House of Lords, what chance is there getting his way on this?

    I can imagine reading the debates in Hansard

    Fred Dagenham (Costa del Sol) (Bring Back Eldorado Party)

    Mr Speaker, is the Prime Minister not aware that thousands of my constituents have left the UK because they got fed up with it being swamped with foreigners, who form large ghettoes, treat their host country’s culture with contempt and refuse to learn its language?

  5. @stefanjo…..At the moment British ex-pats cannot vote in national elections in Spain but can still (if they can be bothered), vote in their home country. Clearly, if that situation were to change, by virtue of a British MP for the Costa del Sol (Rajoy & Co would just love that), that would logically remove the need and entitlement to vote back in the UK. The cake just moves location.

    But of course, we all know it’s just another one of Cleggs pie in the sky idea’s, again reflecting is naivety regarding Spanish politics in spite of his wife’s nationality.

  6. Brian: I understand that ex-pats can still vote (forlornly) back in the U.K. But this is only for a limited period, no?
    Quite agree with your last paragraph. Love Cleggies latest wheeze, to champion the legalisation of all drugs. One dope recommending another. Not that I disagree, I just fear he will put the kiss of death on the idea.

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