On the Ambassador’s Algarve agenda was a radio interview with Kiss FM and a talk with members of the British business and communications community.
Her moves were part of an international effort undertaken by British Ambassadors worldwide as a collective push to get British expats voting.
“We have a very important referendum coming up as to whether the UK should remain within the European Union and we think it’s very important for people to be able to have a say on that issue”, the Ambassador said.
The registration process in itself is a relatively quick and simple one, Kirsty Hayes explained, adding that while a signature is needed and the vote itself is postal, “a lot of work since the last election has been put in by the Electoral Commission to make the process clearer and relatively streamline.”
To put the extent of the Electoral Commission’s mission into perspective, Ambassador Hayes explained: “Just to give you an idea of the scale of the challenge we face in encouraging people to register to vote, at the last general election we had about 100,000 overseas electors on the register, that’s about three times the number of the previous election and the highest number we’ve ever had. But that’s only a tiny fraction of the 5.5 million Britons we think are eligible to vote worldwide. So we really want to encourage people to get online and get themselves registered.”
Dispelling the myth that moving abroad equals losing the right to vote, the diplomat elaborated: “Many people who are living overseas can vote. Basically if you’ve been living overseas for less than 15 years and you were registered in the UK you will be able to vote in that constituency where you were previously resident.
“If you were a child before you moved overseas and obviously not registered but you have a parent who was, you would also be able to vote.”
Expanding on the matter of British citizens who have lived outside the UK for longer than 15 years, Kirsty Hayes said: “The government recognises that people in that position are very unhappy with not being able to vote. Many of them feel a great connection still to the UK even though they’ve lived overseas for a long time. It’s certainly an issue that people have raised with me; the good news is that this government is committed to doing something about it and is also committed to introducing legislation to try and lift that restriction, but that will take time to do. So there’s no guarantee that it will happen before the referendum.”
When the EU referendum will actually take place is yet to be confirmed. Although it will be held sometime before the end of 2017, there are suggestions that it could happen as early as June or July this year but, as the Ambassador stated, “There is no formal date yet.”
“There’s been quite a lot of progress on the renegotiation that the Prime Minister has been undertaking with our partners across Europe, and so it’s possible that we might reach an agreement on a package of reforms sooner rather than later, perhaps as early as this month, which would allow an earlier referendum and if that were the case then June or July could be a window, but as yet we don’t know what date it would be.”
She emphasised that the Electoral Commission campaign being supported by Embassies worldwide “is really about getting people to register to vote” and “not part of either the campaign for yes or no. We’re not encouraging people to vote in any particular way.”
Ambassador Hayes did reveal though that on Tuesday, 2 February, “President [of the European Council] Donald Tusk released some documents which basically were looking at what David Cameron has asked for, and show how the EU might be able to respond. The Prime Minster has said that these represent real progress, but there’s still some work to be done.”
Reflecting on the potential importance that overseas citizens’ votes could hold for swinging the outcome of the referendum, the Ambassador stressed: “Five and a half million votes are a lot of votes. It really is important that everyone who is entitled to vote and who wants to vote, is registered. Every vote will make a difference on this issue.”
But, she stressed, it is important “not to speculate on the outcome.”
“If there was a ‘no’ vote, the form of Britain’s relationship with the rest of the EU and individual agreements with different countries could take on a wider variety of forms and I think at the moment it’s not terribly helpful to speculate about these possibilities.
“One thing I would say is that it wouldn’t be an immediate process. You wouldn’t have a referendum one day and if it was a ‘no’ vote the UK would be outside the EU. It would take months certainly, possibly even years to complete this aggregation process, so people would have plenty of time to find out and be informed about the changes.”
For more information on how to register to vote, see: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
Alternatively Facebook British Embassy Lisbon for updates, or follow the Embassy and Ambassador Hayes on Twitter: @ukinportugal or @kirstyhayesfco.