James Preston, a Spanish resident, and UK citizen has lost his appeal to allow British ex-pats to vote after 15 years of absence from the UK.

it is estimated that the ruling will disenfranchise up to 5 million British ex-pats.

British ex-pats continue to fight the 15-year voting rule

Ironically, this is occurring while the EU is trying to force the UK government to allow the prison population to have the vote.

It seems rather short-sighted of the government to reject this generally conservative voting group.

The government argues that ex-pats are out of touch with the UK. However, in our view that it is likely to have the reverse effect, making ex-pats more proactive and involved with British events and issues.

to sign the online petition to support this cause please go to:

 http://votes-for-expat-brits-blog.com/category/voting-rights/james-preston-case/