EU nationals are becoming a “voiceless minority” in the UK, warns the co-founder of a campaign group fighting for their rights as it was revealed only one in 10 were able to cast their vote in some areas during May’s elections.
The Guardian reported on Wednesday that the return rate for the UC1 form – which was required to be completed by May 10 in order to vote in the May 23 elections – sat at just 21 per cent across Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and seven London boroughs. That number slumped to 10.5 per cent for England’s second city while the highest rate, out of 50 councils, was recorded in Kingston upon Thames with 43 per cent.
The outrage among EU citizens inspired the #deniedmyvotecampaign on Twitter as thousands of people reported being turned away from polling stations or not receiving a report at all.
Follow the urgent question in Parliament at 3:30pm on #DeniedMyVote scandal that has seen 100s of EU citizens unable to exercise their democratic right of voting in the #EUElections2019 https://t.co/uBYxZ3lGgD
— the3million (@the3million) June 4, 2019
And that anger has spilled over to a Change.org petition, set up by New Europeans chief Roger Casale, calling for a public inquiry into the matter, which has attracted more than 132,000 signatures in just over a week.
The3million co-founder Maike Bohn told The Big Issue that the voting error was born out of “negligence and incompetence not malice” but has left EU citizens feeling robbed.