Scottish Expats Get No Say In Referendum

The Scottish National Party have stated that Scots living overseas will not be able to vote in the referendum on independence

London, UK (Pryce Warner International) January 19th, 2012 – Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), who are the ruling party of the devolved Scottish Assembly, will not allow Expats to vote in the independence referendum of 2014.

The proposal to allow Expats to vote was initially put forward by Labour MSP Elaine Murray, but was rejected by the ruling party, claiming that it would be too complex to implement and had no international precedent.

Murray argued that registered voters from other countries will have their say, but not Scottish people living in England. She also noted that many Scottish people are presently looking for work elsewhere in the United Kingdom and that to remove them from the voting process when up until recently they had lived their entire lives in Scotland did not make sense.

In order to allow Scottish people that live overseas to vote, Murray suggested a system in which those that hold a UK passport and have had a registered UK address in the past 15 years could vote.

Elaine Murray MSP was also backed by Conservative MSP David McLetchie, who stated: “We have it that Irish, Polish and Australian citizens who happen to be resident in Scotland at the relevant time can all vote on the break up of Britain, but those that were born in Scotland and retain a substantial Scottish connection, cannot.”

Though the SNP recognised that Scottish people around the world would be keen to have their say in the fate of their home nation, they ultimately concluded that a vote on the issue had to be based on residency.

This decision was based on the argument that the cost of allowing Scottish Expats to vote would be very high, and that the logistical problems would make the whole operation highly impractical.

SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn elaborated on this stating: “I don't think there's any international precedent, or domestic precedent, that would suggest that the franchise should be extended in this way… If the franchise we had for the devolution referendum was good enough for that referendum, it is certainly good enough for the coming independence referendum.

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By Aneil Fatania
Financial Editor
Pryce Warner International Group
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