Eric Pickles is off to Majorca - to get Brits abroad to register to vote

Yesterday I spent an hour with the recently-appointed party chairman, Eric Pickles, and at some point in the next few days I will be publishing the highlights of our conversation, during which he talks about how he is settling in to his new role and what he hopes to achieve as chairman.

But first of all, I bring you the news that he is off to Majorca tomorrow - and not to try and find some winter sun; he is spearheading a new Conservative Party effort to ensure that eligible Britons abroad don't lose their right to vote in UK elections (and, dare I say, that they use that vote in favour of the Conservatives).

"There are something like two and a half million British citizens overseas who are eligible to vote in British elections, but only about 14,000 are registered to do so. My trip to Majorca, where I'll be speaking at a rally, is the start of a prolonged registration campaign. It's not just a dash for the elections in June, we're looking towards the General Election."

There will be some visits by him and senior party spokesmen to some of the locations where there are large numbers of Britons - he mentioned various European countries, America and the Gulf States - although the campaign has a website too, which is to be found at DontLeaveYourVoteAtHome.com.

"The great thing about the web is that we can talk to our friends in New York and elsewhere without the benefit of a Pickles visit. So we'll be using the site to get people to register and encourage their friends to do so too, to make sure they don't lose their say in the most important elections which are coming up."

The website includes a factsheet explaining precisely who is eligible to register to vote and a downloadable form for people to print, fill in and send back to the relevant electoral registration office.

When Mr Pickles's visit to Majorca was announced locally, it was front page news in the main English language newspaper on the island. He feels this reflects the importance of the registration campaign, which is to be far more concerted than previous efforts along similar lines.

"I think this is a major, important thing for us to do. Traditionally, we've looked at the ex-pats, people who go abroad to retire. We'll still be doing that, of course, but we're also looking at young professionals doing a period in Dubai, folks working out in America and the like. I'm pretty determined about this - this is the start of getting serious numbers of people registered."

Jonathan Isaby

Comments

[Sally Roberts]

Mrs Pickles gets her holiday- at last!!

[Jack Stone]

In my experience most of those who have gone abroad to live are so racist and right-wing anyone party who seeks there votes are really scrapping the barrel!!!

[rugfish]

Sorry, I had to have a giggle when I read this. Eric Pickles is plainly deserving of a holiday and I wish him all the luck in the world out there. I'm sure he'll do very well as I can't think of a soul in Majorca who'd be there if they supported the Labour Party. If there are any there I doubt they'd admit it in public otherwise I could headlines showing a few ex-pats had dumped off the coast with concrete round their necks.

Well done to Eric Pickles!

Tell him to take a Union Jack with him and give it a good wave at the airport!

[Norman Mercer]

Jack Stone, some of us have retired abroad. The climate is good for my wife's arthritis and we can relax after a lifetime of toil.

How dare you, you are the ultimate bigot!

[Floreat Aula]

"In my experience most of those who have gone abroad to live are so racist and right-wing anyone party who seeks there votes are really scrapping the barrel!!!"

Even by the low standards of web comments this is a startlingly stupid thing to say.

[Malcolm Dunn]

I think we should take a self denying ordinance not to respond to Jack's truly moronic witterings. I wonder if I'll be able to resist the bait.Attempting to debate with him is a fruitless excercise, he can't.

[Sally Roberts]

Jack Stone, you are being even more offensive than usual! My brother and sister-in-law live in France. In 1997 my brother mistakenly voted Labour because he thought Blair might be a good egg (he bitterly regretted it soon after). My sister lived for a number of years in Pre-Apartheid South Africa where she worked as a secretary in a chambers of very left-wing lawyers and as a result her own political views were very much of the left. She mellowed over time and now supports the Conservatives (largely because of David Cameron!)

[Sally Roberts]

Sorry - I should say Sister-in-Law - I don't have a sister.

[Sally Roberts]

Oh Malcolm, I wish I'd read your post before opening mouth :-*

[John Moss]

I have five members who live abroad and they have all checked their ability to vote via this website. Two found they were not registered as they thought.

They are evangelising for us amongst their ex-pat colleagues and finding many simply did not bother to think about it, but many are enthused by the prospect of giving Brown a good kicking in June!

[Hugh Oxford]

Sorry - I should say Sister-in-Law - I don't have a sister.

Sally, I'm confused. A few days ago you were arguing that people of foreign descent living in Britain were British, and were expressing outrage at the suggestion that many of them weren't. Now you are arguing that people of British descent living in France or South Africa are British.

What's it to be? I would have thought that by your criteria your brother and sister-in-law were French and your Sister a South African?

[Hugh Oxford]

Sorry - I should say Sister-in-Law - I don't have a sister.

Sally, I'm confused. A few days ago you were arguing that people of foreign descent living in Britain were British, and were expressing outrage at the suggestion that many of them weren't. Now you are arguing that people of British descent living in France or South Africa are British.

What's it to be? I would have thought that by your criteria your brother and sister-in-law were French and your Sister a South African?

[Air Nokia One]

Geoff Randall in the Telegraph nails it:

Q: What's the difference between Bernard Madoff and Gordon Brown?

A: One has drained fortunes from gullible victims, plundering their income and savings to create an illusion of prosperity. The other is going to jail.

[Councillor]

An excellent initiative.

[angryvoter, Swad]

Make sure to take your suntan lotion big fella! Sorry it's a working holiday but at least you won't have to keep staring at the cold, grey skies for a bit!

Where next tho? If he's off to Majorca he might as well go to the Costa del Sol, Malta and Cyprus... Have an extended trip!

[James]

Hugh

Surely it depends on what the individual wants?

Some people choose to live in a different country than the one they were born in, but do not consider it to be permanent and still consider their nationality to be the same as they were born with.

Other people adopt their new country as their permanent home and choose to take on a new nationality.

My wife was born elsewhere but has a British passport and considers herself to be British.

My sister lives in a different country but still considers herself to be British as she eventually sees herself returning here.

However, I suspect that my sister's daughter, having lived her entire life abroad, may well consider that country to be her home.

[Super Blue]

Nice work if you can get it!

Seriously, if anyone you know is about to move abroad and work, or emigrate, and is a good Conservative, take their details down and ensure that they can still vote. It can be just as important as a postal vote from the neighbouring constituency.

One of my friends works for a pharmaceutical company in Belgium but still has a North-Eastern accent. We meet up once a year.

[councilhousetory]

Good work Eric. The flip side of course, is that I've convinced a number of EU citizens living in the UK to register to vote here and vote tory.

[Praguetory]

Being registered is one issue - having a proxy voter is also required because postal voting doesn't tend to be quick enough.

From one who knows.

[councilhousetory]

Should add that is for EU/local elections.

[Sally Roberts]

Just to remind people - there are certain people that I don't respond to any more and I believe they know who they are.

[RichardJ]

"Hugh

Surely it depends on what the individual wants?"

So if I go over and live in Japan I can call myself Jaspanese? Somehow I don't think the Japanese would agree.

[Peter Harrison]

Hugh - there is absolutely no inconsistency in Sally's position. Her brother and sister-in-law were presumably born in Britain and are therefore British and will remain so unless and until they are naturalised. When talking about people of foreign descent in an earlier thread, the discussion was about people born in the UK to foreign parents. The comparison would therefore be with Sally's nephews and nieces born in France.

[Peter Harrison]

RichardJ - Yes you can provided you live there continuously for at least 5 years, are willing to renounce your British citizenship and meet certain other requirements. You are then entitled to apply for naturalisation and, if successful, are classed as "foreign-born Japanese". You are then eligible to become Prime Minister of Japan if you want!

[RichardJ]

"RichardJ - Yes you can provided you live there continuously for at least 5 years,"

Precisely, it's not entirely up to what I want!

[Hugh Oxford]

Hugh

Surely it depends on what the individual wants?

So it's purely subjective?

OK, so if I choose to go to xxxxxxx*, a very different country to England, continue to speak English, listen, read and watch English media, dress like an Englishman, live only amongst Englishmen, subscribe to English religions and perspectives, socialise only with Englishmen, eat only English food, bring a wife/wives over from England to have children, bring my Children up in exactly the same way, in English schools, and teach them that xxxxxxx is an inferior country, seek to live under English law and impose English law on that country and to separate myself from it then am I and my children English or are we xxxxxxx?

You see Sally was outraged at my suggestion that certain bearded and befrocked individuals chanting Allah Akbar and shouting down our troops weren't actually British.

*Substitute any country.

[Jamie]

So where does the vote go to? The constituency where they last were registered? Is this not open to abuse?

[Dual Citizen]

Good initiative Eric, thanks. Just downloaded the forms and will get them filled out and returned.

Some thoughts:

1) You need a UK passport to register to vote. Mine expires mid-June 2010, so i'm just OK for the next election. When you get back in, please aboilish ID cards and the ID database. Then I can get a new UK passport and vote again in 2014.

2) The postal voting rules are ridiculous. Ballots not mailed out until 4 working days before polling day! It takes 3 days for mail to get from the UK to US, and another 3 days to mail it back; unless you have a like-minded friend who'll be a trusted proxy, or can afford to fly back just to vote, you're screwed. Here in Oregon all elections are vote by mail, and ballots are sent out 3 WEEKS before polling day. You need to fix this when in government. Till then I'm pretty sure I can persuade my Mother to act as proxy and vote the right way.

[Graeme Archer]

Re Sally's lucky relatives. I lived in Italy for 5 years. I didn't become Italian. The difference is that I fell in love with the country that gaveme a temporary home, and whether I'd stayed there permanently or not, wouldn't have dreamt of going on a demonstration against their armed forces, or demanded that the host country reined in its religious aspects (those clanging bells!) to suit me, or provided a translator whenever I came into contact with the Italian state, or funded a small Scottish Presbyterian church for me to worship in, or tolerated whatever standard of dress I brought with me (had I possessed any such standards!) without daring to comment, etc etc. It's not the nationality of sally's relatives or Luton's residents that matters. It's the interface between bog standard politeness of the guest/new resident & the determination of the host culture to be firm in regard to its expected norms. This is where Britain has gone hideously wrong.

[Istanbul Tory]

I am an expat in Turkey and registered to vote. I would expect an incoming Conservative government to review existing legislation and make it easier for us to register and allow us to vote in UK elections on an indefinite basis. We lose the right to vote after 15 years of non-residency at present.

[Simon Denis]

Stone is clearly rattled. All undemocratic forces resort to abuse when the majority is against them - "rabble", "scraping the barrel" etcetera. He has, in effect, admitted that there are perhaps two million extra Tory votes out there. He has also fessed up that they have been driven out of their homeland by its late, unwanted transformation. For him, it would appear, a "racist" is someone who regrets his people being suddenly outnumbered in their own country.

[Dual Citizen]

Jamie

"So where does the vote go to? .... Is this not open to abuse?"

If so, let's all register to vote in Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath!

[oldrightie]

Is Jack Stone a trustee of Lord of All Mandy's fortunes? Just asking.

[Jack Stone]

The sad fact is that most who go abroad go because they think we have too many foreigners here who want to change our way of life. Never seen the logic in it myself but from my observations the British living abroad are right-wing and often extremely racist.

[Jack Stone]

Simon. By there people what do you mean, White people? Yet another racist comment. God this site has more racist comments in a day than that Yorkshire village I was reading about last night has rats!!!

[Paul D]

Yes, Jack, because racists are just the sort of people to err.. go and live in a foreign country

Now go and have a nice lie down

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

I wonder if Jack Stone is Keith Vaz?

[John Brewer]

@ Dual Citizen.

sadly you can only vote in the ward/ constituency you lived in before leaving the UK. nice idea though!

[gadgie]

It is well known that people become more patriotic when living abroad. This will make Alex Salmond very happy.

[ToryBlog.com]

An excellent initiative, showing that the Tories are not taking anything for granted, and that every vote is vital.

With the collapse in the pound against the euro, I am sure there are many thousands of retired Brits in Europe who will grab the chance to kick Brown out if it gives them any chance of seeing their pension recover in value.

[Archie Wedderspoon]

I'm afraid that living abroad hasn't made me any keener on Alex Salmond and his party.

[Edward Huxley]

While I commend his initiative I agree with the person who said most of those who want to vote already know how to do so.

And dare I ask the question - who is paying for this trip?

[Andrew Langley]

When overseas based Brits vote in a GE, to which constituency does their vote get counted - is it the place they were last registered?

Given this - does CCHQ thereby advise local associations of possible voters living abroad?

[deborah]

"most of those who want to vote already know how to do so."

No - most are just getting on with their lives and voting hasn't been a priority. A little bit of nudge won't go amiss.

[Jack Stone]

PaulD. Go to parts of Spain and you will see how racist the Brits are abroad. Some make the BNP look Liberal.

[RichardJ]

Jack Stone we all know you're a troll, why do you bother? Are you 14 years old?

[Malcolm Stevas]

superblue:
"..if anyone you know is about to move abroad and work, or emigrate, and is a good Conservative, take their details down and ensure that they can still vote."
I'd have thought most emigrees were sufficiently disenchanted with Blighty, and/or not interested any longer, that they would not see the point in continuing to vote in UK elections. I mean, given the lack of real choice between credible candidates, the damning absence of meaningful difference between the major parties, the shallowness & triviality of much political debate, and the apparent readiness of so many here to let our culture, our liberty and our economy to slide into a black hole, it's difficult to motivate myself to vote - and I still live here, though only because of factors which tie me to these shores...

[James M]

Not sure who to contact - but there is a spelling mistake in the first line of the pop up advert you have when first going on the website. Britains is spelt wrong.

[James M]

Indeed, thinking about it further - it is currently spelt - "Britians" - should it be "Britons"?

[Cleethorpes Rock]

I like the idea of registering British expats in Kircaldy and Cowdenbeath!

My parents live out in Menorca for much of the year and judging by the British expatriates out there, Pickles should be going round the Med filling his boots with easy votes!

[Super Blue]

"I wonder if Jack Stone is Keith Vaz?"

No, Justin, I think Keith Vaseline can spell. Troll-Stone is just a sour, prejudiced, ignorant individual, a sore loser who is about to get plenty more practice!

[david1]

The only people who should be allowed to vote in UK elections, are British citizens domiciled in the UK.

[Super Blue]

David1,

No. If you are offered a job abroad should you lose your vote?

[Chris Buckwell]

I have today posted to our ERO three overseas elector application forms from supporters in Spain. For a first registration they are complex; too complex. Why on earth is another ex-pat required to counter-sign such applications?

Chris Buckwell
Rochester and Strood CCA

[Iain]

I emigrated to get away from the likes of Eric Pickles. If the fat oaf knocks on my door in Majorca I will set my rabid dog on him

[Sally Roberts]

Iain, are you sure your rabid dog hasn't already bitten you?

[Hugh Oxford]

There are something like two and a half million British citizens overseas who are eligible to vote in British elections, but only about 14,000 are registered to do so.

My priority (speaking as a conservative) is trying to understand why Britain has more people living abroad as a percentage of the population than any other country other than Mexico, and what we can do to bring them back.

I think dismay at the direction our country is heading on so many levels is driving people away.

Conservatives should be focussed on resolving those issues. Sadly, on a number of key issues, such as basic freedoms, the EU, immigration, law and order and multiculturalism, they have so far not really come up with very much to convince me they have a strong agenda.

For me, as a parent of pre-school children, I am desperately worried about the moral and cultural climate my children are going to grow up in. Whilst I appreciate there is a limit to the amount the state can do, they can help set a moral framework in schools.

If the Conservatives unlock the stranglehold the statist left wing ideologues have over our children, and return education to churches and parents, and start educating rather than reprogramming them, then I might consider staying in the UK.

If not, I will feel I have little choice but to leave.

[Hugh Oxford]

There are something like two and a half million British citizens overseas who are eligible to vote in British elections, but only about 14,000 are registered to do so.

My priority (speaking as a conservative) is trying to understand why Britain has more people living abroad as a percentage of the population than any other country other than Mexico, and what we can do to bring them back.

I think dismay at the direction our country is heading on so many levels is driving people away.

Conservatives should be focussed on resolving those issues. Sadly, on a number of key issues, such as basic freedoms, the EU, immigration, law and order and multiculturalism, they have so far not really come up with very much to convince me they have a strong agenda.

For me, as a parent of pre-school children, I am desperately worried about the moral and cultural climate my children are going to grow up in. Whilst I appreciate there is a limit to the amount the state can do, they can help set a moral framework in schools.

If the Conservatives unlock the stranglehold the statist left wing ideologues have over our children, and return education to churches and parents, and start educating rather than reprogramming them, then I might consider staying in the UK.

If not, I will feel I have little choice but to leave.

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

Go, Oxford Hugh, go!

[Mike Smith]

Hugh Oxford, sentiments agreed.

It is appalling that people leave this country in their droves. These are people who do have a little bit of cash, and can afford to live a reasonable life here. Certainly not the worst off in UK by any means. Yet they are fed up with being here - it's not unfulfilment - they think it is a bad place to live. Yes, perhaps we should be trying to get their votes, and encourage them to come back and give it another go, and do something positive in their communities.

What sort of a Conservative cannot agree with what Hugh has said? What we have in the UK in the way of culture and morality amounts to nothing. We can't just magically pull values out of a handkerchief, someone has to take the lead. It is about time the leftist institutions are crushed, and at last give our children the prospect of a decent future. Any candidate who thinks otherwise ought to assess whether they really are in the right party.

What were you saying Justin Hinchcliffe?

[Hugh Oxford]

Go, Oxford Hugh, go!

What, and let you leftists completely destroy what's left of Britain? No Sir, we conservatives intend to stay and fight you!

[Peter S]

"In my experience most of those who have gone abroad to live are so racist and right-wing anyone party who seeks there votes are really scrapping the barrel!!!"

Plus, he should try learning to spell!

[Alan.Summ]

I must object to Jack Stone's assertions and I must admit that I too once voted for Labour.
I voted Labour once only in the mistaken belief that as a Union member the Labour party must be the one that would help me most.
I watched the Labour Party drain the country (just like now) and go begging to the IMF like a lot of 3rd world countries had to. Inflation went out of control and I could not afford to stay in the job I had so I looked for an alternative. The job I found was in South Africa and was also an introduction to private sector employment. From abroad I saw Maggie put the GREAT back into Great Britain and restore the country's finances.
Living in Africa does not make you a racist. In fact it made me the opposite but you do have to accept the realities of where you live. There are good and bad in both the black and white populations and you should encourage the good in all groups.
I moved to Saudi Arabia and did not become a racist. At a personal level every Muslim I have met is a nice guy.
Conversly I have met many bigots in the UK who have never been out of the country and in my opinion thet are the bigger racists than any who have lived overseas.

[L A Holt]

37m from the HOUSE OF COMMONS is small fry!
Just go to Paddington to see the hundreds of people who commute daily from the South West. That includes Penzance! But of course they have to pay for that priviledge!
To buy a flat not close to public transport is irresponsible.

[jack-spot]

eric your a star, you should be on the west-end stage.the only tory who speaks normal.lol,
if your party lets you on question time again i will be shocked.if only you could talk as good as you eat mate.giggle giggle

10 points ahead in the polls hmmmm bring that election on
you have some great policys.lol

[sean]

It really is sad that there is such great debate on such an irrelevent matter as overseas votes.

We have a "first past the post system" , where a donkey with a blue or red rosette can win.

The present Government has 315 seats, Tory has 196 seats. Labout got 33 percent of the votes cast. So who cares about democracy when we live in a two party state where 65 percent of the voters do not want the government we are stuck with.
Sean