End of year round up

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Else Kvist looks back at a year of service delivery and campaigning for EU citizens in the UK and Britons abroad

Setting up the Parliamentary Group for Citizens Rights in the new parliament with Manuela Perteghella MP , House of Commons, Dec. 2024

Dear friends,

It's been a busy year at New Europeans UK, as we set out to defend the voting rights of EU citizens at the local and European Parliament elections, and of Britons abroad at this summer’s General Election.

All the while, our project team is working hard to help those EU citizens who still need to secure their immigration status after Brexit, as the cases we see become increasingly complex and require legal advice.

We finished the year by highlighting to MPs and Peers how the digital immigration system, introduced by the government after Brexit, risks leaving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable EU citizens unable to prove their right to remain in the UK.

At a meeting in Parliament hosted by new MP Manuela Perteghella, our Deputy Head of Projects, Lydia Martin, in her role as Coordinator of the Civil Society EUSS Alliance, warned parliamentarians that without the availability of accredited advisors, vulnerable EU citizens are at risk of being “locked out” of accessing the system.

At this summer's UK General Election, as a postal vote scandal unfolded, which saw tens of thousands of Britons unable to return their ballot in time, we teamed up with partner organisations to conduct a survey into how the postal vote performed during the election.

As we relaunch our All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Citizens' Rights in January, we will present the findings of our survey to MPs and Peers.

Earlier in the summer, we shone a light on how some EU citizens in the UK have lost their right to vote in European Parliament elections, as some member states prevent their citizens from voting if they live outside the EU, while most member states have no such restrictions.

It brought us to Northern Ireland, where the picture is even more complex after Brexit, as we took the debate on voting rights to Stormont.

Chair of New Europeans UK, Dr Ruvi Ziegler, is working with the ECIT Foundation, a Brussels based think-tank, to try and secure voting rights and representation for all EU citizens in the UK for future EP elections.

Ahead of the local elections last spring, we turned our attention to new rules, which will mean that some EU citizens will now not be able to vote at the local elections next spring.

Delve into the stories below that made up our year and find out how we will continue to stand up for the rights of EU citizens in the UK and Britons abroad.

Please also consider joining our community seeking to overcome divisions and celebrating European identity by signing up as a Friend of New Europeans:

Become a Friend (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Happy New Year from all of us at New Europeans UK !

Else Kvist, Head of Campaigns and Communications

2024 Highlights and Year Ahead

EUSS immigration support sees increasingly complex case work

Our team in Leicester with a community group

This autumn, our advice service has supported more than two hundred vulnerable people in London and Leicester in navigating the EU Settlement Scheme.

New Europeans UK working with community partners to provide immigration advice in London

Through our community partners, we received a broad range of inquiries from a diverse pool of users, relating to non-EEA family members, victims of modern slavery, elderly UK residents, and others.

The complexity of cases that we are seeing remains high.

Lydia Martin, our Deputy Head of Projects, was also a speaker at the EU Delegation’s (Si apre in una nuova finestra) EU Citizens Gathering 2024.

Lydia addressed the meeting about the challenges faced by vulnerable EU citizens in the UK, and how important it is for organisations in the sector to recognise and create spaces for community groups.

Digital immigration system could leave EU citizens undocumented

Meeting with MPs and Peers at House of Commons, Dec. 2024

MPs and Peers were warned that hundreds of thousands of vulnerable EU citizens could be left unable to prove their right to remain in the UK.

At a meeting in December, the Civil Society EUSS Alliance, which comprises over 200 organisations working with communities across the UK, got a chance to raise their concerns with MPs.

The meeting, organised by New Europeans UK and hosted by Manuela Perteghella MP, received significant media coverage and highlighted the continued need for support to EU citizens, who still need to secure their immigration status. Read more on the link below:

Media Round Up about EU citizens unable to prove right to remain in UK (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

APPG on Citizens' Rights to relaunch in new year

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Citizens’ Rights (APPG), which will bring issues facing EU citizens in the UK and Britons abroad to the attention of MPs and Peers, will hold its Inaugural Meeting on 15th of January.

MP Manuela Perteghella has agreed to Chair the APPG. New Europeans UK acts as the secretariat and will invite representatives from organisations and communities to speak at the meetings. Find out more on the link below:

APPG for EU citizens in UK and Britons abroad to relaunch (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

First APPG meeting to focus on postal vote scandal at UK General Election

Clarissa Killwick travelled from her home in Italy to her polling station in Wimbledon to make sure her vote would be counted.

Once MPs and Peers have been voted in as officers of the APPG on Citizens' Rights, the first meeting at parliament will look at the postal vote scandal at this summer's General Election.

We have invited Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy and former Liberal Democrat MP, to present the results of a survey we conducted into how the postal vote system performed.

New Europeans UK teamed up with Unlock Democracy and the British Overseas Voters Forum to conduct the investigation.

Representatives of Britons abroad will also be present to explain the problems so many of them had in voting.

Among them will be Clarissa Killwick, pictured, who flew over from Italy where she lives, to make sure her vote was counted.

Postal delays meant that tens of thousands of Britons abroad are thought to have been denied their vote.

Read more about our joint survey in The Guardian and i Paper:

Thousands fear they will lose vote in UK election after postal ballot delays (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Brexit ripped my European citizenship away - now I can't vote in the UK either (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Overseas Constituency Campaign - website launched

We have launched a dedicated webpage for our overseas constituency campaign - a go-to-page for background information and supporting our campaign work.

Here you can read the stories of Britons living and working abroad, who come from all walks of life.

Many also explain why they feel their interests would be better served by MPs dedicated to representing Britons abroad and how they help promote the UK abroad.

There are a myriad of issues facing Britons abroad from earnings thresholds preventing many from returning to the UK with their spouse or partner to university fees and frozen pensions.

These are all issues which we plan to take a closer look at in the new year.

Read all about our Overseas Constituency Campaign (Si apre in una nuova finestra)and if you can, please consider to donate to our work (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

The case for Overseas Constituencies

Dr Ruvi Ziegler

Chair of New Europeans UK, Dr Ruvi Ziegler, who is Associate Professor in International Refugee Law, makes the case for overseas constituencies.

He argues that further electoral reform is “desirable” following the removal of the 15-year limit to voting for Britons abroad.

Read Ruvi’s blog here | The Case for Overseas Constituencies (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Stormont Conference: EU Citizens - Rights and Wrongs

New Europeans UK team at Stormont , May 2024

Should people in Northern Ireland have a vote in EP Elections?

That was the question posed by former Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Jane Morrice, who helped architect the Good Friday Agreement, at one of our APPGs held at Westminster.

It inspired us to take the debate to Stormont where Jane chaired a panel of experts. The event was hosted by Jane and our board member Eileen Chan-Hu, CEO of CRAICNI in Belfast, and attended by a range of community organisations.

Among the speakers were Emma DeSouza, who took the Home Office to court over her right to Irish citizenship to secure family reunion rights with her American husband.

You can read more about the APPG, which inspired us to organise the event at Stormont, and an opinion piece by Emma below following the event.

Read more about our event and about the issues raised below:

Should people in Northern Ireland have a vote in European Parliament elections? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Comment: The island of Ireland is now home to one of the largest populations of disenfranchised EU citizens, so why aren’t our political leaders talking about it? (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Disenfranchisement of EU citizens in UK at EP elections

Danish co-owner of Scandi Kitchen (pictured on the right) in London was unable to vote in EP elections while her Swedish husband was allowed to do so.

As millions of EU citizens living in the UK voted in the European Parliament elections, it was not just Britons who were no longer able to vote in these elections after Brexit.

Five member states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, and Malta) prevented their citizens from voting if they live outside the UK, while other countries, such as Italy, made it difficult for their citizens to vote in practice.

Else Kvist is originally from Denmark, and was also among those unable to vote. Read Else’s article in the EU Reporter below:

Danes in UK among EU citizens prevented from voting in EU elections (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Claudia Delpero, founder and editor of Europe Street, also gives her perspective of the Italian community in London. Read Claudia’s article below:

EU elections: Italians largest group of EU citizens unable to vote from the UK (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Joint letter to European Commission

New Europeans UK and the ECIT Foundation, a think-tank on European Citizenship, wrote a joint letter to the European Commission on the disenfranchisement of EU citizens at European Parliament elections.

The letter focused on citizens residing in the UK after Brexit, whose nation states do not permit them to participate in European Parliament elections, if they reside outside the EU.

While voting rights are determined by individual member states, EU treaties are meant to safeguard the right to vote and representation for all EU citizens. Our letter calls on the Commission to help rectify this wrong.

You can read our letter and the response from the Commission below.

Chair of New Europeans UK, Dr Ruvi Ziegler, is working with the ECIT Foundation to explore the next steps and potential legal action against member states denying their citizens the right to vote in EP elections.

They are looking for plaintiffs from the affected member states.

You can also watch a presentation at Europe House, facilitated by the European Parliament Office in the United Kingdom, by Ruvi and Tony Venables, founder of the ECIT Foundation, and their legal team below:

Read | Joint letter to European Commission on disenfranchisement (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Watch | Meeting at Europe House on state of voting rights for EU citizens (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

New EU citizens arrivals lose voting rights in local elections

Lara Parizotto with local councillor Michal Siewniak and New Europeans UK Advisory Member calling for votes for all

The local and mayoral elections, held last May, were the last set of local elections in which all EU citizens in the UK were able to vote.

Legislation introduced by the last government means that EU citizens, who arrived after Brexit, will not be able to vote in future local elections, unless their county of origin has signed a bilateral voting rights agreement with the UK.

We invited the Migrant Democracy Project to speak on voting rights at our APPG on Citizens Rights ahead of the May elections.

New Europeans UK support the campaign by the Migrant Democracy Project to give all residents in the UK the right to vote in local elections, as well as extending the right to vote in national elections to everyone with indefinite leave to remain or settled status (typically after five years of residency).

The APPG also heard from the Shpresa Programme about the challenges facing the Albanian Community in the UK amid the political discourse.

Read Else’s article |

“Complex and unfair” rules exclude millions of migrants from voting (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Lara Parizotto, Executive Director, later helped local councillor Michal Siewniak in preparing a motion calling on votes for all in local elections.

Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison fires up #GOTV campaign

Kate Willoughby as suffragette Emily W Davison captured by photographer Isabel Infantes as we launched our Get Out the Vote campaign in March 2024

Our Get Out the Vote Campaign also gained traction this year. Actor, writer, and campaigner Kate Willoughby launched the campaign in March to mobilise EU citizens to vote in local, mayoral and regional elections.

Kate, who performs as suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, helped us remind all EU citizens in the UK that they still had the right to vote in the local and mayoral elections held last May.

We carried on the campaign later in year, as we urged Britons abroad to register for and vote in the UK General Election.

Campaign launched to “defend voting rights” (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

“Two-tier system”: voting rights of EU citizens in UK local elections (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

UK representation at Leadership Academy in Brussels

Else Kvist from New Europeans UK with Aké Achi from Black Europeans

It was a nice surprise and a great end to the year, when Else Kvisit was offered a place at the together.eu (Si apre in una nuova finestra) Leadership Academy in Brussels in November.

Together with Aké Achi from Black Europeans, Else got to represent the UK among a group of campaigners, invited from each member state of the EU.

Titled ‘Driving What's Next, the idea was to gather top volunteers for a day of discussions on post European Parliament election strategy.

The aim was for us to advise the European Parliament on how best to support volunteers in promoting democratic participation.

It was a great networking event too. We would like to thank the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK for this amazing opportunity.

During a panel discussion with MEP Marc Angel, of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (Si apre in una nuova finestra) (LSAP), Else had the chance to ask him about the joint letter, which New Europeans UK and the ECIT Foundation sent to the European Commission - referring to those EU citizens who were disenfranchised at the European Parliament elections. Marc asked Else to send him the letter and promised to look into this.

So watch this space for further developments too. I also urged the EU team organising the event not to forget EU citizens in the UK and Britons abroad after the UK has left the EU.

Else Kvist, pictured on the left, gets to put question to MEP Marc Angel during panel session with volunteers at the European Parliament