MP condemns Commission over eligibility

MILLIONS of Brits abroad will be unable to vote in the general election because they face "endless obstacles" in their way.

Rotherham MP Denis MacShane has slammed the failure to do more to help or encourage ex-pats to vote after discovering just 13,000 UK citizens living abroad are eligible to vote.

He criticised the Electoral Commission, branding the figures "a disgrace", and said Ministers had succumbed to Whitehall reluctance to help.

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"The Electoral Commission gets 27m a year from the taxpayer but since it was set up fewer and fewer people bother to vote and in the case of millions of overseas citizens they are actively discouraged from voting," he said.

"In Britain we do nothing at all and place endless obstacles in the way of people abroad who are still linked to the UK, come back here, have a home here or return when their period of work is over."