British expats in Australia urged to vote in general election.
The British Conservative Party have scoured the country in their efforts to win votes. From Mondeo Man to Mumsnet, there is hardly a section of society left that they haven’t tried to woo – except that is, for the expatriates.
Tory estimates say that there are 2.5 million expats living abroad that are eligible to vote in this country and now the Conservatives are pulling out all the stops to make sure they secure their vote.
With Gordon Brown and David Cameron now neck to neck, every vote counts. The Conservatives are hoping that those who left the country to immigrate to Australia. Canada, New Zealand and Europe whilst the country was heading for a recession under the Labour government, will now come out in support of them.
So are the Tories to travel to places like Australia to convince British expats to vote for a political party in a country they no longer live in? Well no, they’ve tried to simplify the voting process for those living abroad by setting up a website to guide them through it. Called the ‘Don’t Leave Your Vote at Home’ website it sets out in the process in five easy steps.
So why should expats vote in the next General Election? What do they care who gets in the country? Well the Conservatives are banking on patriotism to lure expats into the voting arena. Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles says: “So many of the laws passed in the UK affect the lives of British citizens living overseas. By registering and voting in the General Election expats can have a say on the policies that will shape their future.”
Speaking of UK policies that change the future of expats, where does the Conservative Party stand on ‘frozen pensions’? Apparently the official Conservative line on this pressing and controversial issue is that they will have to wait and see what the financial situation is when they regain office. With neither Labour nor Conservatives willing to commit themselves to unfreezing hundreds of thousands of expats frozen assets, it remains to be seen if those expats will be willing to make the effort to vote.
If you do want to vote in the forthcoming General Election, you’d better get your skates on as you’ve just one month to register your intention to vote. You can do this by visiting the official site from The Electoral Office.
We’d like to hear from you about this issue, how do you feel about the Conservatives chasing expat votes? Do you think that any future British Government will change life for you outside of Britain? Would you register to vote? Get in touch by filling out the comments box below. You can also debate this issue in our online forum.
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