If you are an EU resident of Brighton and Hove, you have an extra hurdle to jump if you want to vote in the European elections on May 23rd. This is a separate election to the Brighton and Hove City Council elections which will be held next Thursday, 02 May.
Nearly fourteen thousand EU residents of Brighton & Hove work in our hospitals, teach in our schools, serve in our restaurants and pay their taxes. All EU residents must complete and return a form UC1 or you will be turned away at the polling booth.
Even if you think you have a vote as an EU resident because you have a polling card for the local elections on 02 May, you still have to return the UC1 form to be eligible to vote in European elections. The form will be sent to you by the council and you must return it by 5 pm on the 07 May.
Brighton and Hove Electoral Services are poised to send notification of this to all the EU residents next Wednesday. But this leaves you less than a week to get your registration form UC1 back to the council. Alternatively, you can download it from the Electoral Commission.
Sadly some Brexiteers have threatened, if elected, to disrupt the EU Parliament. All of us must do all we can to ensure that our chosen MEP’s have our best interests at heart, as well as those of our fellow Europeans.
UKIP won the most number of seats in the European Parliament during the last round of EU elections in 2014 but their popularity in the UK has subsequently declined.
You can check the government website to see what to do if you come from the EU and want to remain living in the UK.
EU residents are entitled to vote in local elections in the communities where they live automatically. Local elections will take place next Thursday 02 May across Brighton and Hove.