Ruvi Ziegler, Associate Professor in International Refugee Law at the University of Reading, says this is a “particularly painful reality” for many.

Ziegler, an Advisory Council member of Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary, said, “Millions of EU citizens living in the UK were eligible to vote in the elections, and many, like myself,cast their votes using postal votes, proxy votes, voting in person in embassies/consulates, and/or e-voting.

“In contrast, Italians living abroad would need to travel back to Italy to vote despite being able to vote from abroad for national elections. This has generated justifiable anger.”

He adds, “Worse still, in five EU member states, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, Denmark, and Bulgaria, national legislation prescribes that most of their citizens residing in a ‘third country’, which the UK now is, are legally disenfranchised.

“These countries tend to follow the pattern they adopt for their national elections. Of the four nations of the UK, this legal reality is particularly challenging for Northern Ireland, given that, pursuant to the Good Friday Agreement anyone born in NI may choose to be Irish, British, or both. Hundreds of thousands of residents of Northern Ireland hold Irish citizenship.

“Prior to the conclusion of the withdrawal agreement, I highlighted the ramifications of this scenario and, in my role as Chair of the charity ‘New Europeans UK’, we recently held at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly which explored the effects of Brexit on voting rights of EU citizens in EU elections.

“The legal reality in which your eligibility to vote as an EU citizen for the European Parliament is contingent on your member state’s preferences erodes the political equality of EU citizens as individual EU citizens, irrespective of their member state.

“This is a particularly painful reality for those EU citizens who have come to the UK before Brexit, when it was still an EU member state – to coin a phrase, they have not left the EU; rather, the EU has left them.”

Ruvi Ziegler wrote to The Times on claiming asylum. You can read the letter below, or follow the link to read the newspaper article.

Ruvi Ziegler spent the weekend at the Lib Dem Spring Conference in York where he participated fully.

Ruvi proposed an amendment to a foreign policy motion, which conference adopted, to make firm commitments to resettlement (including of unaccompanied minors), to the establishment of humanitarian visas with applications from outside the UK, and to ensuring rapid humanitarian responses to displacement from conflicts globally in line with the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ and Ukrainian family visa schemes. The motion (post and pre amendment) is available here. Listen to Ruvi’s conference speech proposing the amendment below.

Ruvi also spoke at a debate on the emergency motion ‘Beyond Rwanda: A Fairer way towards Asylum‘. The motion was adopted unanimously.

Click on the link below to listen to Ruvi addressing conference during the debate.

Finally, Ruvi spoke alongside Emily Graham from ‘Safe Passage’ at a fringe meeting of ‘Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary’ about the need for ‘safe and legal routes’ to asylum in the UK and other responses to recent legislation, particularly the Nationality and Borders Act and the Illegal Migration Act.