UK citizens who have been living outside of the country for over 15 years will now have the opportunity to cast their vote in the general election.

The Election Act 2022 has brought about a significant change in voting rights for British citizens living overseas. Previously, those who had left the UK for more than 15 years were stripped of their right to vote. However, this rule has now been abolished, and around two million more British citizens living abroad will be able to register for a vote in general elections. Under the new rule, affected British citizens can register in the last constituency they were signed up in before leaving the UK. Once on the electoral register, they will not only be able to vote but also donate to political parties and campaigners. Children who left the UK before reaching voting age can register using the address of their parent or guardian. This change is the result of a long campaign led by World War Two veteran Harry Shindler, who left the UK to live in Italy about 40 years ago. Shindler had fought for the right to vote, stating that although the UK had fought to bring the vote to the people of Europe, some individuals who had taken part in the war were not allowed to vote themselves. Unfortunately, Shindler passed away in 2023 at the age of 101, before seeing the rule change come into effect. Jane Golding, co-chair of campaign group British in Europe, described the decision as a historic change to the UK franchise and a basic citizenship right regardless of a person's location. The number of overseas voters had previously remained below 35,000 until a registration campaign leading up to the 2015 general election and increased interest before the 2016 Brexit referendum boosted the levels. In the 2019 general election, over 200,000 people were registered as overseas voters out of an estimated 1.2 million who were eligible. The government estimates that the rule change will increase the number of people eligible to register from around one million to 3.2 million to 3.3 million. Despite the significance of this change, there were objections to it during the debate in Parliament, primarily from the Labour Party. Shadow minister Alex Norris argued that the change would make it easier for wealthy donors who have not lived in the UK for decades to contribute to political campaigns.