Saturday 23 June 2018

BREXIT What it means for Brits living in Germany

On 21 June 2018 British in Germany, cooperating with Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft, organised an event at the British Honorary Consulate in Frankfurt called "BREXIT What it means for Brits living in Germany". There were nearly 200 people present waiting to hear what the Consul General, Rafe Courage and British in Germany would be able to tell us.

After a fairly bland opening statement from the Consul General and a summary of the important work of British in Germany, the meeting was given over to questions and answers. A mixture of very specific question on individual cases and more general attempts to understand the British government's position and plans were asked. There was a moderate amount of appropriate heckling, booing and applause from the floor, and even a vexed "Please, let me finish ..." from the Consul General at one point.

I used the opportunity to ask what confidence we should have in Mrs May's government's support for citizen's rights, pointing out the continuing disenfranchisement of British expatriates and their exclusion from the Brexit referendum. The good news is that we were informed that the Oversees Electors Bill had passed its second reading in the Commons and was now at the Committee stage. This bill would give votes for life to expatriates. You can read Sue Collard's blog on the Bill here. I look forward to following the progress of the Bill, and to the reinstatement of my franchise at the earliest opportunity.

My thanks to British in Germany and Deutsche-Britisch Gesellschaft for organising the meeting, and to the British Honorary Consulate in Frankfurt for hosting. The Consul General was right to attend, but was faced with the unenviable task of representing a poorly defined and poorly communicate government position.