LONDON -- With the Labor Party accepting that a referendum on British membership in the European Union is inevitable, the Conservative government announced Monday that the list of eligible voters would be similar to that of the recent general election -- meaning that most EU citizens living in Britain will not be able to vote.
The decision was hardly a surprise given that the United Kingdom will be deciding, before the end of 2017, whether to remain inside the EU. The large euroskeptic wing of the Conservative Party has been pressing for a referendum, as has the U.K. Independence Party, which favors a so-called Brexit.
The Independence Party has urged that the referendum not include the estimated 2.7 million citizens of other EU countries who are working and living in the U.K. legally, according to government figures.
As in the general election earlier this month, British citizens ages 18 and older and residents of the U.K. who are from Ireland or the Commonwealth -- the 53-member organization made up mostly of countries that were formerly part of the British Empire -- will be able to vote. This includes citizens of Cyprus and Malta who live in the U.K. British nationals living abroad for fewer than 15 years also will be able to vote.
In last year's referendum on Scottish independence, those 16 and older could cast a ballot, as well as foreigners living and working in Scotland, but Scots registered in the rest of the U.K. could not.
Prime Minister David Cameron, fresh from winning a majority in the May 7 election, has promised to negotiate "a better deal" for the U.K. in the EU before putting membership to the vote. He was scheduled to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, for dinner Monday, to discuss the U.K.'s desires.
Cameron had tried to block Juncker's appointment last year, but Juncker has said he will do all he can to persuade the Britons to remain in the union.
On Wednesday, the Conservative government's priorities will be laid out in the Queen's Speech to Parliament, which will include the referendum legislation. On Thursday and Friday, Cameron will visit Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Germany to discuss the U.K.'s wish list for the EU, which Cameron will present as overhauls that would benefit the entire bloc.
Cameron wants to reduce the number of EU citizens coming to live and work in his country and to protect the economy in the U.K., which does not use the euro, from rules intended for the countries that use the common currency.
Other European leaders have said that some changes might be made when new immigrants can qualify for some benefits but that the principle of free movement within the bloc cannot be altered.
The Labor Party, after a national defeat, has decided to vote for legislation establishing the referendum after having opposed it during the recent election campaign. As Cameron has a majority, the law would most likely pass, so the interim Labor leader, Harriet Harman, said Sunday that "there does not seem to be the public appetite for us to man the barricades" against the inevitable.
"We will vote for the bill and then get into the big questions for and against Europe," she said.
A Section on 05/26/2015