As an EU citizen, I had to endure the pain of the Brexit referendum, made worse by my total impotence as a result of my immigration status. I had arrived in the UK from Italy to study for a PhD. I was a contributing member of society and suddenly I was a second class citizen with diminished civil rights and big question marks over my personal life and future career.
That hurt badly. However, I believe in democracy and its tools, so I obtained my British citizenship in 2021 (Why didn’t I do it before? Well … it’s not cheap!) so that I’d be ready to participate in the democratic process at the next available opportunity. I was really looking forward to the general election.
Registering to vote
I have been voting in UK local elections for years, but this time I wanted to be 110% sure that I was enrolled correctly on the electoral register as a British citizen, as I didn’t want to miss my chance to vote in the next general election. I followed the procedure on gov.uk and it was very straightforward. My application was processed by my local council (Melton Borough Council), which then sent me a confirmation letter through the post.
So far, this all seemed great. The registration process was very streamlined and efficient and I received confirmation within a couple of weeks. I was ready. Little did I know that people were already betting on the date of the next general election. Fast forward a couple of months and Rishi called the election. Finally my time had come!
Class G citizen
Weeks later, my wife received her poll card and I was a bit surprised not to receive one, as we always receive poll cards at the same time for local elections. I waited a few days and then called my local council; the call handler assured me that everything was OK and there had probably been an issue with the post. There was nothing to worry about; all I had to do was turn up at the polling station on 4 July and cast my vote. Great!
But this is not what happened. To my dismay, when I arrived at the polling station, I discovered that my name on the register was crossed, accompanied by the letter ‘G’ (which, I found out, stands for EU citizen). Polling station staff rang Melton Borough Council who advised them that I couldn’t vote in a parliamentary/general election because I was an EU citizen. I explained that I was, in fact, a British citizen, but at that stage staff couldn’t really do much about it. So I rang the local council office myself and it became obvious very quickly that they hadn’t updated my status and details on the electoral register.
This was not good.
EU citizens can’t vote in this election
I was genuinely shocked. After pressing, they told me that “EU citizens are not allowed to vote in parliamentary elections”. I immediately told the person on the phone that this didn’t sound right at all and, in fact, it was outrageous! Being a scientist though, I trust experts and rely on evidence for everything I do. So, I started doubting myself and wondered whether there was something I had missed out or whether there were some special rules that apply to all those who have dual citizenship.
Whilst I was questioning myself, the call handler told me that I should register to vote but there was nothing that could be done for this election – essentially disregarding everything I had said to them in previous communication with the council. I’m actually very proud of myself that I didn’t lose my rag there and (as politely as I could) I asked the call handler to confirm that even though I was a British citizen on the electoral register, the fact I’m also an EU citizen prevents me from casting a vote in the general election. The call handler confirmed this (the words used were roughly “on this occasion you’re not allowed to vote”) and I hung up before losing it completely.
What next?
This experience has been revealing. I have felt that, despite being a British citizen, I am (once again) being treated as second class. I strongly believe in the importance of the democratic process, so this experience has given me very little confidence in the mechanisms that are in place in the UK to empower citizens and look after an individual’s civil rights.
So, what next? I don’t think there’s anything that can make this right, and an apology will not give me back my vote in the general election. But I hope that making this story public will highlight some of the flaws within our democratic structure.
This will not change the fact that I’ve been made to feel as if I’m not British enough to participate in the democratic process.
