Together with Unlock Democracy, New Europeans UK have submitted evidence to a government inquiry, looking at the resilience of the UK electoral system.
The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) will review the administration, process and conduct of the 2024 General Election, and how these could be improved for future elections, according to the government’s website.
Chair of New Europeans UK, Dr Ruvi Ziegler, worked with the Director of Unlock Democracy, Tom Brake, to gather the evidence for (PACAC), which was appointed by the House of Commons to examine constitutional issues.
It comes after New Europeans UK and Unlock Democracy collaborated with the British Overseas Voters Forum to carry out a survey during last summer’s General Election to test how well the postal system performed for overseas voters. Our survey found that about half of those surveyed did not receive their ballots in time for there to be a reasonable chance of returning it in time for their votes to be counted.
You can read the evidence submitted to the government enquiry here:
It comes as the UK government this week (February 12) published its response to the Electoral Commission’s inquiry into the 2024 General election.
UK government’s response to the report of the Electoral Commission
But New Europeans UK and Unlock Democracy found the response disappointing.
Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy said:
“Sadly, for overseas voters dependent on snail-like postal systems, all that is promised is further inaction. Nothing in the government’s response suggests that overseas voters will ever be certain that their vote will arrive in time to be counted.”
Dr Ruvi Ziegler, Chair of New Europeans UK said:
“This is disappointing. The prospect of voting at embassies and consulates as a way of addressing some of the postal ballot challenges is dismissed based on the complication of having to deal with ballot papers from 650 constituencies. In recognising the complication, the better response would be the creation of overseas constituencies to simplify the election process. The possibility of downloading and printing ballot papers is not addressed at all in the response.”
You can read more about the campaign for the introduction of overseas constituencies to better represent Britons living and working abroad by following the weblink below.