Brexit: expats launch High Court action that could delay referendum

[Ghost Dog]

Britons living in Europe who feel betrayed by Government’s failure to reinstate their voting rights ahead of the referendum have launched legal action to win the right to participate.

If successful, the High Court proceedings could see the In/Out vote, scheduled for June 23, delayed while up to two million extra names are added to the register of voters...

... Richard Stein, a lawyer from Leigh Day, said: “Our clients are being penalised for exercising their EU free movement rights. The EU Referendum Act 2015 is said to be based on legislation for UK parliamentary general elections. But it gives a vote in the referendum to members of the House of Lords, as well as to Irish and Commonwealth citizens who are resident in Gibraltar. None of these are allowed to vote in UK general elections.

“The people it arbitrarily excludes are those UK citizens who are among those most likely to be affected by the decision taken by voters in this referendum.” Mr Stein said Brexit could affect expats on issues including health care and pension rights.

“Not to allow them to vote on the decision whether the UK remains part of the EU is unlawful and we have asked the court to deal with the issues urgently so that the act can be amended before the June date, to include all UK citizens residing in the EU for however long,” he said...

/... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/news/brexit-expats-launch-high-court-action-that-could-delay-referend/

[Denzil_DC]

1. I've no idea about the merits of this case,

but it does emphasize how migration isn't a one-way street.

Revealed: thousands of Britons on benefits across EU

Unemployed Britons in Europe are drawing much more in benefits and allowances in the wealthier EU countries than their nationals are claiming in the UK, despite the British government’s arguments about migrants flocking in to the country to secure better welfare payments.

At least 30,000 British nationals are claiming unemployment benefit in countries around the EU, research by the Guardian has found, based on responses from 23 of the 27 other EU countries.

The research shows more than four times as many Britons obtain unemployment benefits in Germany as Germans do in the UK, while the number of jobless Britons receiving benefits in Ireland exceeds their Irish counterparts in the UK by a rate of five to one.

There are not only far more Britons drawing benefits in these countries than vice versa, but frequently the benefits elsewhere in Europe are much more generous than in the UK. A Briton in France receives more than three times as much as a jobless French person in the UK.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/19/-sp-thousands-britons-claim-benefits-eu

Though, as so often, the Telegraph wants to have its cake an eat it. Back in June last year, it sponsored and published this from Eurosceptic campaign group Business for Britain:

Emigration: Why British expats have nothing to fear from Brexit

Despite warnings and fears, Britons living elsewhere in the EU would be largely unaffected if their home country left the union

A significant fear for those concerned about Britain leaving the EU is the potential mass exodus of both Europeans and Britons from each other’s respective nations. Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve has claimed that: “EU exit would make 2 million Britons abroad illegal immigrants overnight.”

However, this claim is not grounded in legal fact, as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 would come into play. It contains articles that are based on ‘acquired rights’, which individuals build up over time and hold despite any changes in future treaties enacted by their nation.

Moreover, “acquired rights” were acknowledged in Greenland’s withdrawal from the European Economic Community (EEC). Under the term “vested rights”, the European Commission said that Greenland should retain the “substance” of free movement rights for workers from the EEC at the time of withdrawal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/11698875/Emigration-Why-British-expats-have-nothing-to-fear-from-Brexit.html

[Bad Dog]

2. The Scots wanted a delay so it didn't impact on their elections.

They have a point, this is all very rushed. And let's be honest, this referendum is all about internal divisions in the Tory party. The only people who want it are Tory Eurosceptics and the idiots in UKIP.