I am
starting this article not in London or Gibraltar but in France. In recent weeks
I have been covering the French presidential elections and there is one more to
come in June when France’s voters choose a new parliament.
I
believe that French overseas territories already send MPs to the Assemblée
Nationale in much the same way that Ceuta and Melilla do to Madrid. The latter
two North African enclaves are considered an integral part of Spain and hence
are represented in both the lower and upper house.
What
is different in this French election in June is that French voters overseas can
also elect an MP for a constituency that is not in France or one of its
territories thanks to legislation that was introduced in 2008.
I
make no political point here but I have be in frequent contact with Axelle
Lemaire who is the Parti Socialiste candidate for a constituency that takes in
the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland,
Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. In other words France has created a Northern
Europe constituency covering ten countries although the vast majority of the
voters are in the UK.
Now
this is a different animal altogether. From June there will be French MPs who
directly represent in the parliament in Paris its nationals who live outside
France’s sovereignty territory.
Gibraltar
having a seat at Westminster has often been discussed before but one problem is
that the Rock would only have 20,000 voters whereas the average UK constituency
is far bigger: on average between 60,000 and 80,000 electors. Hence if it was
to come about the pressure would be for Gibraltar to be included as an
extension of an English constituency as it is for the Euro elections. Even with
20,000 voters the Rock would be the tail on this dog.
Britons
overseas can still vote in their last UK constituency subject to a number of
previsions. However if the British Parliament followed the French model there
could be a British Constituency for say the Iberian Peninsula covering Spain,
Portugal and Gibraltar. Indeed there may need to be a number of constituencies
as the French Northern Europe constituency will have around 130,000 voters
whereas several million Britons live on the Iberian Peninsula.
How
would such a constituency operate in Gibraltar? How would you define a British voter?
I am not going to get in to the distinction of whether Gibraltarians are deemed
full British citizens because I suspect it is a minefield and I would step on
the first one. I understand that Gibraltarians have the right to be regarded as
full British citizens and of course they vote in a British constituency for
Europe – but then so do Commonwealth residents in the UK.
The
fact remains if Britain followed the French model then Gibraltar could have a
voice at Westminster either as part of an Iberian constituency or perhaps for the
Mediterranean islands. Voting would be on UK party lines: but there is no
reason why a Gibraltarian MP should not be elected and speak for the Rock and
the other constituents in the House of Commons. It is an interesting thought.
