Celebrity expats handed right to vote in Budget boost
Some of Britain’s richest expatriates and tax exiles will be granted the right to vote for the first time in two decades under new rules buried in last week’s Budget.
The government has scrapped a 2002 rule that prevents Brits from voting in UK elections if they have lived abroad for more than 15 years.
Celebs including Sir Mick Jagger, who owns homes in Los Angeles and on the Caribbean island of Mustique as well as a castle in France, and Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton are set to benefit from the changes.
Business tycoons including Monaco-based retail tycoon Sir Philip Green and Sir Richard Branson, who owns the Caribbean island of Necker, will also be able to vote again.
The changes, first reported by the Sunday Times, will also hand the vote back to thousands of British expats who have retired or set up businesses abroad.
More than 5m British citizens are thought to live abroad, though just 233,000 were registered to vote in the 2019 general election.
In the Budget the government said it was setting aside £2.5m to fund the rule changes.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Most of British expats retain deep ties to the UK. Many have family here, are planning to return, have a lifetime of hard work behind them or may even have fought for our country.”