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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2017/jun/26/eu-residents-vote-non-citizens-taxes
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| It's not enough to let EU residents stay – they should get the vote, too | It's not enough to let EU residents stay – they should get the vote, too |
| (7 days later) | |
| Of about 100 Labour activists assembled in the scout hut, in Kimberly, Notts, there is a handful of workers from a local factory, badged up and ready to hit the doorstep. The only problem is, they are from Slovenia and the Czech Republic and cannot vote. They are part of the 2.1 million-strong section of Britain’s adult population disenfranchised by Europe’s voting rules. And Theresa May just proposed to make that permanent. | Of about 100 Labour activists assembled in the scout hut, in Kimberly, Notts, there is a handful of workers from a local factory, badged up and ready to hit the doorstep. The only problem is, they are from Slovenia and the Czech Republic and cannot vote. They are part of the 2.1 million-strong section of Britain’s adult population disenfranchised by Europe’s voting rules. And Theresa May just proposed to make that permanent. |
| The Conservative offer of “settled status” for EU nationals prepared to carry an ID card will now be the subject of justified haggling with Brussels. If implemented, it will further widen the democratic deficit suffered by those who move across Europe’s borders to work. If you are an EU citizen resident in another country, you can vote in that country’s local and regional elections and for the European parliament, but not for the government that actually makes the laws that affect your life, and to which you pay taxes. Mrs May’s proposal even potentially takes away the right to vote in local elections. | The Conservative offer of “settled status” for EU nationals prepared to carry an ID card will now be the subject of justified haggling with Brussels. If implemented, it will further widen the democratic deficit suffered by those who move across Europe’s borders to work. If you are an EU citizen resident in another country, you can vote in that country’s local and regional elections and for the European parliament, but not for the government that actually makes the laws that affect your life, and to which you pay taxes. Mrs May’s proposal even potentially takes away the right to vote in local elections. |
| What’s worse, many EU governments actually disenfranchise their own expat citizens for domestic elections. In Greece, you can only vote if you are present on the day; in Denmark, you can’t vote unless you can prove you will be back within two years. Malta, Cyprus and Germany have formal rules preventing some expats from voting. Brits cannot vote once they have been out of the country for 15 years. | What’s worse, many EU governments actually disenfranchise their own expat citizens for domestic elections. In Greece, you can only vote if you are present on the day; in Denmark, you can’t vote unless you can prove you will be back within two years. Malta, Cyprus and Germany have formal rules preventing some expats from voting. Brits cannot vote once they have been out of the country for 15 years. |
| As a result, the business class across Europe gets something it hasn’t really enjoyed since the 19th century: the absolute disenfranchisement of its most precarious workers. And the place this matters most is in the UK, where one in 10 of the workforce are non-citizens and cannot vote. | As a result, the business class across Europe gets something it hasn’t really enjoyed since the 19th century: the absolute disenfranchisement of its most precarious workers. And the place this matters most is in the UK, where one in 10 of the workforce are non-citizens and cannot vote. |
| Brexit should be the moment that anomaly is ended. On top of the right to settle, claim benefits and access the NHS, those who choose to stay after Britain leaves the EU should be offered full citizenship and, en route to that, be given the right to vote in Westminster elections. | Brexit should be the moment that anomaly is ended. On top of the right to settle, claim benefits and access the NHS, those who choose to stay after Britain leaves the EU should be offered full citizenship and, en route to that, be given the right to vote in Westminster elections. |
| The scale of the democratic deficit becomes clear if you look at the gap between estimated adult populations and registered voters. | The scale of the democratic deficit becomes clear if you look at the gap between estimated adult populations and registered voters. |
| In Birmingham Ladywood, there are 104,000 adults: 40,000 of them are not registered to vote. West Ham, one of the poorest areas in London, has a staggering 45,000 adults unregistered, out of a population of 135,000. Of course, not all of this registration gap can be put down to the presence of EU nationals – some of it is due to apathy, some to migration from outside the EU and some to the dislocation attendant on a highly mobile workforce. | In Birmingham Ladywood, there are 104,000 adults: 40,000 of them are not registered to vote. West Ham, one of the poorest areas in London, has a staggering 45,000 adults unregistered, out of a population of 135,000. Of course, not all of this registration gap can be put down to the presence of EU nationals – some of it is due to apathy, some to migration from outside the EU and some to the dislocation attendant on a highly mobile workforce. |
| However, in a seat such as Broxtowe, where I met east European Labour members last month, the constituency is marginal enough – 836 votes – for its 8,000 non-registered adults to matter. | However, in a seat such as Broxtowe, where I met east European Labour members last month, the constituency is marginal enough – 836 votes – for its 8,000 non-registered adults to matter. |
| If Britain were to offer voting rights to all EU migrants who choose to settle here, it would remedy one of the biggest faults of the EU itself: its abstract and economic definition of citizenship. | If Britain were to offer voting rights to all EU migrants who choose to settle here, it would remedy one of the biggest faults of the EU itself: its abstract and economic definition of citizenship. |
| The EU’s free movement rules effectively allowed employers to say to local populations: we don’t care who you are, what your father did, how much social capital your family has sunk into the building of a town and community, or that your grandad’s name is on the cenotaph: if a worker from Kraków can do the job better, she is hired. | The EU’s free movement rules effectively allowed employers to say to local populations: we don’t care who you are, what your father did, how much social capital your family has sunk into the building of a town and community, or that your grandad’s name is on the cenotaph: if a worker from Kraków can do the job better, she is hired. |
| The citizenship of the EU migrant resides effectively in their ability to work. They were treated as the classic “homo economicus” of neoliberal ideology. And UK-born workers – including black people and Asians – understood why: to create a two-tier exploitable workforce with reduced rights and an insignificant voice in politics. | The citizenship of the EU migrant resides effectively in their ability to work. They were treated as the classic “homo economicus” of neoliberal ideology. And UK-born workers – including black people and Asians – understood why: to create a two-tier exploitable workforce with reduced rights and an insignificant voice in politics. |
| Uniquely among recent waves of migration, EU workers were neither encouraged nor required to “integrate”. The ideal workforce for the low-wage, high-discipline, high-turnover employers who exploit them is one that cannot organise in trade unions and cannot make its voice heard in elections. | Uniquely among recent waves of migration, EU workers were neither encouraged nor required to “integrate”. The ideal workforce for the low-wage, high-discipline, high-turnover employers who exploit them is one that cannot organise in trade unions and cannot make its voice heard in elections. |
| All across Britain, however, there are communities where a key symbol of successful integration is the high participation of minority communities in elections. Cities such as Leicester and Glasgow have seen their entire political dynamics reshaped by the entry of migrant communities into political party life and electoral activity. Why should that not now happen in a town such as Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, where 10,000 European nationals form about a third of the population? | All across Britain, however, there are communities where a key symbol of successful integration is the high participation of minority communities in elections. Cities such as Leicester and Glasgow have seen their entire political dynamics reshaped by the entry of migrant communities into political party life and electoral activity. Why should that not now happen in a town such as Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, where 10,000 European nationals form about a third of the population? |
| The need to settle the issue of existing EU migrants has been treated as a no-brainer by both main parties. The Tories were never really prepared to threaten deportations against 10% of the UK workforce in the absence of a deal. | The need to settle the issue of existing EU migrants has been treated as a no-brainer by both main parties. The Tories were never really prepared to threaten deportations against 10% of the UK workforce in the absence of a deal. |
| However, it is a big deal – and should be an existential moment – to say to 3 million people not just that they can stay but that we want them to. | However, it is a big deal – and should be an existential moment – to say to 3 million people not just that they can stay but that we want them to. |
| The British working class had to fight for most of the 19th century to achieve the right to vote; women had to fight until 1918. The disenfranchisement of 2.1 million adult men and women might have been justifiable by the fact that it was reciprocal. It is no longer justifiable after Brexit. | The British working class had to fight for most of the 19th century to achieve the right to vote; women had to fight until 1918. The disenfranchisement of 2.1 million adult men and women might have been justifiable by the fact that it was reciprocal. It is no longer justifiable after Brexit. |
| Once Britain is out of Europe, there will, of necessity, be a two-tier migrant workforce: new workers will still arrive from Zagreb and Vilnius – but with far fewer rights and no expectation of voting at all. | Once Britain is out of Europe, there will, of necessity, be a two-tier migrant workforce: new workers will still arrive from Zagreb and Vilnius – but with far fewer rights and no expectation of voting at all. |
| For those already here who choose to settle, the best way of ending exploitation, encouraging integration and gaining consent for the deal among UK nationals would be the offer of full voting rights now. | For those already here who choose to settle, the best way of ending exploitation, encouraging integration and gaining consent for the deal among UK nationals would be the offer of full voting rights now. |