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[...] The first opinion survey taken since the UK government unveiled the detail of its offer on citizens’ rights to EU nationals shows that three-quarters of the British public support at the very least maintaining their current rights to vote in local elections.
Most of the 3 million EU nationals in Britain do not have a right to vote in general elections. The exceptions are citizens of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. More than 1 million Commonwealth citizens settled in Britain, including those with Indian, Pakistani and Zimbabwean passports, also have a right to vote in general elections alongside British citizens.
The findings come in an Opinium survey commissioned by Prof Michael Bruter and Dr Sarah Harrison, of the London School of Economics’ electoral psychology initiative.
They show that only 10% of the British public would support removing the right of EU citizens to vote in local elections in the UK after Brexit. The UK’s policy paper published last Monday detailing the offer of “settled status” for EU nationals after Brexit made no mention of safeguarding their right to vote in local elections or seeking to ensure the continuation of voting rights for Britons in the EU. This gave rise to speculation that they may be at risk.
Both Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians backed extending the right to vote in general elections to EU nationals last week. One senior Lib Dem, Chris Rennard, said in a letter to the Guardian: “There must also be a change in electoral law to ensure that everyone living in the UK and entitled to vote is registered in order to enable them to participate in elections.”
The survey says that 48% of the British public back extending voting rights to the 3 million EU nationals after Brexit, while 25% support the status quo of voting only in local elections and 10% support the option of removing all their voting rights. [...]