The British Overseas Voters Forum (BOVF) will hold its inaugural meeting in Europe at 6pm on September 9th, 2025 at the All Saints’ Anglican Church in Milan.
The organisation was initially formed after the 2024 law change that allowed British citizens living overseas to vote no matter how long they have lived outside the UK.
BOVF says it was formed with the aim of "galvanising UK citizens abroad to register to vote and importantly, through various mechanisms, to start to have real influence in the UK".
The organisation says that "thanks to Brexit, BOVF core issues will resonate with many Britons in Italy and across the EU, including: spouse and family visas, UK university fees and access to UK bank accounts".
The group also says it will campaign for overseas constituencies, better communication with the UK government and an improved voting system to avoid the kind of postal vote scandal that meant thousands of overseas voters were unable to cast a ballot in recent UK elections.
The new chair of BOVF, Bruce Darrington, will address British residents at the meeting in Milan to explain the BOVF strategy and hear about the issues Brits have from those present.
Places for the meeting are limited, so if you'd like to attend, you can email BOVF Italy coordinator Clarissa Killwick at clarissakillwick@gmail.com
The long-awaited scrapping of the UK's so-called "15-year rule" in 2024 increased the overseas electorate to around 3.5 million British voters.
BOVF say much of the credit for that law change goes to the late Harry Shindler OBE – a long-time Italian resident and citizens' rights campaigner.
Since voting rules eased, however, only 200,000 Britons abroad have registered – just 6 percent of those eligible.
“There’s much work to be done,” says BOVF Chair Darrington.
“Harry Shindler died aged 101 in 2023, so sadly did not get to cast his vote after the lifting of the 15-year-rule. It is very fitting that BOVF’s first European meeting will be in Italy.”
Britons who want to register to vote can visit: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
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