A Liberal Democrat MP has sponsored an event which is calling for extending the franchise to millions of migrants after urging Commons colleagues to listen to academics who branded Britain's current voting rights "colonial".
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse, who was this month refused entry to visit her newborn grandson in Hong Kong, today urged fellow MPs to attend an event to discuss extending the franchise.
In an email seen by GB News, Hobhouse wrote: "Dear colleague, You are cordially invited to Migrant Democracy Project's report launch in Parliament."
She added: "The event will discuss the findings of MDP's new report 'What if Everyone Could Vote', detailing the scale of unenfranchisement across the UK.
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse
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A polling station
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"Join us to hear from Professor Toby James, the report author, unenfranchised residents; and the MDP report, as well as the campaign to extend voting rights to all."
In the report, Professor James and his co-author Jamie Underwood discuss how the franchise for General Elections is limited to those registered to vote, who are 18 or over, and not legally excluded from voting.
Addressing the 1948 British Nationality Act's decision to include Irish and Commonwealth residents alongside British citizens, the report said: "A qualifying Commonwealth citizen is someone who is a resident in the UK and who has leave to remain in the UK or does not require leave to remain."
The report goes on to cite Heather Lardy's comments about how extending the franchise to these citizens is "intimately connected with the colonial history of the United Kingdom".
An image of illegal migrants arriving in the UK
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The report added: "Our current electoral franchise determines who is deserving of political agency and voice through a complicated myriad of bilateral agreements, historical ties to the Empire, and political decision making.
"Residence-based voting rights, on the other hand, recognises that all members of our community are equal and deserve a political stake in their home – regardless of where they are born."
The authors estimate that around 4.4 million residents across the UK remain "unenfranchised", with 32,980 living in Kensington & Bayswater alone.
The academics added: "We are talking about migrant residents without the right to vote.
Images from the report being sponsored by Wera Hobhouse
GB NEWS
Liberal Democrat candidate Wera Hobhouse gives a speech after winning in the Bath constituency in the 2024 General Election, at the Sports Training Village, University of Bath
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"Migrants live their lives affected by the same policies as their enfranchised counterparts. In fact, migrants are disproportionately and negatively affected by Hostile Environment policies too often outside of their political control."
Reacting to the Bath MP's decision to sponsor the report, Tory MP Neil O'Brien warned illegal migrants could be among those given the right to vote.
He said: "Wera Hobhouse is sponsoring the launch of this report in the Commons later on. It argues we should give the vote to an extra 4.4 million people - including those who arrived illegally - because restricting voting to British citizens is 'colonial'."
Responding to concerns about the paper pushing for illegal migrants to get the right to vote, a spokeswoman for Hobhouse told GB News: "These claims are totally false. Sponsoring this event was to enable a discussion around voting rights for people who have legally made their lives here, work here and pay their taxes.”
GB News also understands that extending the franchise to legal migrants is not Liberal Democrat party policy.
The Migrant Democracy Project also said: "Our current voter eligibility system is a complex labyrinth of bespoke historic deals with different countries and treaties that vary depending on where in the UK you are. It is a messy and unfair system. The UK needs electoral reform, and the people support this change. Residence-based voting rights recognises that all people are equal and deserve a political stake in their home – regardless of where they were born or their nationality."
