Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who will be eligible to vote in the forthcoming EU referendum; and for what reason he plans to exclude European citizens resident in the UK from voting in that referendum.

Mr David Lidington

The franchise for the EU referendum was debated and agreed by both Houses during the passing of the EU Referendum Act 2015. This has now received Royal Assent and is set in law.

The franchise for the EU referendum includes those enfranchised for UK parliamentary elections, with the addition of Members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth and Irish citizens in Gibraltar.

Amendments during the passage of the EU Referendum Bill, seeking to include EU citizens in the franchise for the EU referendum, were considered and overwhelmingly rejected by both Houses.