Petition · past parliament

Allow all British expatriates to vote in any future UK referendums

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

In the recent 2016 referendum on EU membership, British expatriates who had been living abroad for more than 15 years were excluded from voting on a referendum that, in many cases, would directly impact their quality of life, this arbitrary 15 year ruling was both unjust and undemocratic.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

The Government has said that it does have plans to change this rule. It's therefore not clear what action you would like the Government to take that is different from what it is already doing.

You can find more information in the Government's response to this petition:
Extend Eu referendum voting rights to all UK citizens living abroad.

Timeline

26 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
4 Jul 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 4 Jul 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.