The British embassy in Bangkok has issued a press release confirming the government’s decision to give to all expats and non-residents the right to vote in British local and national elections. Currently, there is an arbitrary 15 year absence limit, after which the franchise is automatically removed. The restored rights were mentioned in the March 2021 budget speech.
But UK expats in Pattaya seem not to care too much about the prospect of being able to vote once again. A straw poll of 30 Brits, conducted in Jomtien, showed that only 2 intended to register, with most not even aware of the restitution of their civil liberties. “I’m more interested in the value of the pound than in this pseudo-democracy,” growled John Davidson who last visited the UK 20 years ago.
In order to qualify to vote in future, there is a detailed bureaucracy in which expats have to prove the address and constituency in which they last lived in UK and then re-register every three years. This could be difficult for expats without close family members in the home country. Constituency boundary shifts and constituency name changes could also be a complicating factor for some.
There are believed to be 4.3 million British living abroad with about 3 million about to be refranchised once the new policy comes into effect later this year. The “overseas vote” is very small with only 230,000 expats participating in the 2019 general election. Pattaya Mail, in an admittedly small sample, was unable to find any local Brit who had actually used his or her postal or proxy ballot in that particular opportunity.
Moreover, tax advisers in UK are warning rich expats to be careful about taking the opportunity to vote in future elections. Robert Salter, a consultant, said, “Wealthy expats who have moved abroad to minimize their exposure to UK taxes could find that participating in elections indicates they have retained a UK domicile. Hence, they could be liable to UK inheritance tax on death.”
But if many British expats here are indifferent to voting rights, there are two other financial issues of piping hot interest. The state (old age) pension is frozen for British expats in Thailand and most other countries. This has long been the subject of passionate campaigning which has got precisely nowhere in spite of numerous petitions and court battles. During the general election of 2019, the Labour party did indeed promise to end the financial discrimination, but was promptly defeated in the actual poll.
The other matter of concern is the government suggestion, made several times over the past 10 years, that expats could lose their personal allowance in income tax policy. The allowance is worth about two thousand pounds a year to most tax payers. Some expats worry that such a de facto cut in their income could be defended in the future by the government arguing a need to rehabilitate its stricken finances once the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. Assuming it ever does.
 |
 |
 |
