Politics
Reform plan to ban the scourge of Commonwealth voting, which they just found out about
Nigel Farage is clearly struggling to accept Reform’s defeat in Gorton and Denton. So much so that the racist little fuckwit is now proposing an end to Commonwealth voting, and scaling back postal votes.
And, as the Canary reported yesterday, Farage’s swerve to a Trump-style denial of an entirely legal process is a worrying sign for democracy.
Farage: Scary, scary Commonwealth
In his Mail article, Farage laid the groundwork for his call to end Commonwealth voting:
Yes, I know Britain has a historic association with the Commonwealth.
But if we do not, then I fear that what we have seen in Gorton and Denton will play itself out in many areas where local electoral elections are taking place in May.
I’m sorry, but surely it is only right that British citizens should be able to vote in British elections on British issues – not have international problems that are taking place thousands of miles away brought into campaigning.
Ok, so there’s a few things here – just for accuracy, you understand. That ‘historic association’ is ‘hundreds of years of violent colonial subjugation’. ‘What we have seen’ in Gorton and Denton is ‘Reform losing’. However, what he means is ‘electoral theft’, which is something he made up.
And yes, candidates campaign on foreign issues. It’s part of an MP’s job. That’s why we have a fucking foreign secretary, for Christ’s sake.
Farage also wrote regarding Commonwealth voting:
in my opinion this is having a terrifying effect on the British electoral process.
I am well aware many people will find this to be shattering news.
Some will even find it difficult to believe. But I have checked this out legally and I am right.
Now, suspicious cunt that I am, I’d point out that Farage is being very ambiguous about what exactly he’s checked out legally.
Is it that Commonwealth voting has a terrifying effect on British elections? No, it can’t be that – he stated that the terrifying effect was his opinion. Rather, is it merely that people from the Commonwealth who have leave to enter the UK can vote?
Because one of those things would be very scary to Daily Mail readers, and would get them all wound up. The other would be, you know, actually true.
Commonwealth voting
So, Farage now has a new attack line on UK democracy. He’s running around spouting lines like:
I do believe for national elections they should be voted in by British voters only… otherwise we get a really very, very perverse influence on our politics.
That ‘only Brits should vote in British elections’ might be very convincing if his audience is only half paying attention (or racist). ‘Yeah, why would we let foreign nationals vote in our elections?’ kind of thing.
So, let’s take a look. When exactly can one of those scary foreigners vote in a UK election?
First up, background information. The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 countries, including some 2.7 billion people. The vast majority of the countries were former victims of violent British colonialism, including Kenya, Rwanda, Pakistan, and Barbados.
As to which Commonwealth citizens can vote in the UK, the rules differ slightly depending on which UK country we’re talking about. Let’s use England as our example, given that the by-election in question was English.
The Electoral Commission explains that:
Qualifying Commonwealth citizens are entitled to register as Parliamentary and as local government electors provided that on the relevant date they also fulfil the age and residence requirements for registration and are not subject to any other legal incapacity.
And further:
A person is a qualifying Commonwealth citizen if they do not require permission to enter or stay in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man or they do require permission to enter or stay in the UK but have been granted such permission, or are treated as having been granted such permission.
Ok, so a Commonwealth citizen can vote here if they live here. They can live here because they’re a citizen of a country Britain once ransacked to claim as its own. And again – they now live here.
A vote seems like less than the bare minimum the UK can offer.
Restricting democracy for definitely non-evil reasons
So, in response to this dire threat to our democracy, what is Reform planning to do?
Speaking at a press conference in London, Farage stated that his party would ban Commonwealth citizens from voting in UK elections. He later remembered that Ireland exists, and clarified that Irish citizens could still vote in the UK under his plans.
He also announced his intention to massively restrict postal voting. Postal votes, he claimed, should only be granted to people with a “good reason”, because postal voting is:
massively open to fraud and intimidation.
In his opinion, those good reasons included working abroad, being disabled, or being an older person.
The Electoral Commision website explains that:
In-person voters were more likely to say that they voted using their preferred method (96%) compared to postal voters (91%), suggesting that some did choose to vote by post out of necessity.
We asked postal voters why they chose to vote by post and most (32%) said it was because they did not want to vote in person. However, some said it was because they did not have time to go to their polling station on 4 July (13%), were away on holiday (14%) or found it difficult to access or travel to their polling station (18%).
So, most postal voters would already vote in person if they actually could. However, travelling to a polling station can be difficult, either because of time or distance.
In other words, Farage’s plans would massively disenfranchise busy working people and those in remote rural areas. You know, those people Reform keeps lying through their teeth about caring for.
As I wrote previously, Farage’s false claims of electoral fraud are a method of voter suppression. Once you can make the public doubt the democratic process, you can throw out any election result that doesn’t suit you.
And of course, the elections that don’t suit Farage are the elections that Farage doesn’t win. Don’t just take my word for it though – Georgie Laming, Hope Not Hate’s campaign director, pointed out that Farage has a:
track record of seeking to undermine elections and the wider democratic process.
Like his close ally Donald Trump, Farage has regularly disputed election defeats, including in Oldham in 2015, Peterborough in 2019 and Rochdale in 2024.
The fact that the mainstream UK media are suddenly taking Farage’s claims even vaguely seriously is proof of just how open to fascism our country has become.
Featured image via the Canary