Jeremy Vine guest blasts British expats voting 'from sunloungers' while 'rest of us graft'

JEREMY VINE SHOW

Mike Parry ripped into the idea of British expats who have lived abroad for over 15 years voting in UK elections.

He issued a scathing rant on the Jeremy Vine Show and suggested British citizens should lose the right to vote the first day they leave the country.

This comes as a new law introduced this week has removed a 15-year time limit on the eligibility of British expatriates to vote in UK elections.

The move is set to extend the right to vote to 3.5 million people living abroad ahead of a potential general election this year.

However, Mr Parry took issue with the law, complaining that selfish Brits “lazing on a sun lounger in Marbella” can vote on the way the country is run.

He said: “I’m totally against expats having the vote at all.

“I didn’t know they could do it for the first 15 years and now they can do it ad infinitum.

“I think it is a disgrace!”

Mr Parry brought up a friend who “packed up and bought a villa in Spain”.

He explained: “He could not only have his company pension paid out there, his state pension paid out there – we pay state pension to people overseas!

“Once you leave our shores and go to another country, as far as I’m concerned, your loyalty lies to that country.”

He claimed that many British expats leave the UK “to benefit themselves” while the rest of Britons work hard to make the country function.

Mr Parry added: “He is luxuriating in front of his swimming pool while I’m still working my socks off in this country.

“He thinks he has the right to come back and vote on the way the country is run, while he is lazing on a sunlounger in Marbella.”

Fellow guest Jenny Kleeman disagreed, saying British expats are “still affected by what the British government decides”.

UK VOTE MARBELLA

UK VOTES

She pointed to the risk of conscription for many expats as well as the consequences of foreign policy decisions.

The law states that expats will be eligible to vote in the constituency they lived in before they moved abroad, and it will be up to local councils to check their past connection to the area.

Expats will now also be able to donate to political parties and campaigns.

During the debate of the Election Act in Parliament in 2022, Labour rebuked the change.

At the time, shadow minister Alex Norris argued that “wealthy donors who have not lived in the UK for decades will find it easier to contribute”.