EU citizens to be barred from voting in UK referendum

Citizens from most EU countries living in the UK will be barred from voting in the referendum on whether to sever ties with Brussels promised by David Cameron.

Mon, 25 May, 2015 - 01:00

David Hughes

The franchise for referendum, promised by the end of 2017, will be based on that for a general election, meaning Irish, Maltese, and Cypriots resident in the UK will get a vote, but other EU citizens will not.

Details about the planned public vote were revealed as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was due to hold talks with Cameron at Chequers.

Legislation for the referendum will be introduced to Parliament tomorrow.

The bill will make clear the franchise will be based on that for a general election, plus members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar. British, Irish, and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 who are resident in the UK will be eligible to vote, as well as UK nationals resident overseas for less than 15 years.

Eurosceptics had claimed that as many as 1.5m people from other EU countries could have been allowed to vote in the plebiscite if it had taken place under the rules for local government elections, which citizens of other member states can participate in.

Official figures show the total number of UK parliamentary electors in 2014 was 45.3m while the number of local government electors was 46.8m.

Cameron hopes to talk to all leaders of EU member states individually before the European Council summit at the end of next month.