The Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer is being accused of trying to ‘rig’ future general elections and trying to reverse Brexit, by changing the electoral law in order to give millions of migrants the right to vote in our general and local elections.
It began when his party, including his shadow frontbenchers, tabled amendments to the Elections Act 2022; this was the law that introduced voter ID. With these admendments they wanted to extend the vote to anyone with the ‘right to abode’ in the UK. The proposals would have covered EU citizens with ‘settled status’ and many other overseas arrivals with the status ‘indefinite leave to remain’.
Lara Parizotto, a Labour councillor, claimed that Keir Starmer has long backed giving all migrants the vote, not just EU citizens who have settled in the UK. She told LBC Radio: “In 2021 at the Labour Party Conference, I asked Keir Starmer directly whether he supports that extension of the rights to vote to every resident, every nationality and he was supportive of it. When we checked the amendments made to the Elections Bill in 2021 and 2022 we already found evidence that amendments where tabled to extend the right to vote to every settled resident in the UK”.
This article highlights how important and powerful the right to vote in a democracy are. Democracy, as a system of governance, thrives on the participation and representation of our people. The allocation of voting rights is a crucial aspect of any democratic society. The amendments to the Election Act 2022, allegedly proposed by Keir Starmer and the Labour party to extend voting rights to migrants and other people originating from outside the UK, raises significant concerns and has the potential to undermine the democratic process.
Granting voting rights to ever-increasing numbers of migrants who are coming to settle in the UK will dilute the representation of local people in local and national elections. Local people have a direct stake in the affairs and issues that affect their communities on a daily basis. By allowing migrants – people who, by definition, originate from outside the UK – to vote in their affairs, there is a risk that the voices of those who have lived on these islands for generations will be overshadowed by the interests and priorities of the incoming migrant populations.
Homeland understands that our communities and people must be put at the forefront of our policies and we must work to support and enhance their lives through the work that we do. What we can observe from the mainstream parties is that they have no interest in preserving and protecting the rights of our people, or anything else for that matter!
At Homeland we understand that multi-culturalism will continue to cause division in our country, and our sense of shared responsibility and a collective vision for the future will be further eroded. Our people will find themselves further marginalised in the decision-making process if migrants, who may have different priorities and perspectives, have a say in shaping our future as more of them continue to settle here and obtain the right to vote. This will have the effect of further diminishing the power of our vote and our ability to advocate for the wants and need of our people.
