Citizenship and Electoral Rights in the Multi-Level 'Euro-Polity': The Case of the United Kingdom

Shaw, Jo

Citizenship and Electoral Rights in the Multi-Level 'Euro-Polity': The Case of the United Kingdom

A RIGHT TO INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION? NORMATIVE FAULT LINES OF THE EU'S AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY AND JUSTICE, H. Lindahl, ed., Hart Publishing, 2009

U. of Edinburgh School of Law Working Paper No. 2009/02

33 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2009

See all articles by Jo Shaw

Jo Shaw

University of Edinburgh

Date Written: March, 27 2009

Abstract

This paper explores recent citizenship debates in the United Kingdom, in particular the proposal contained in a report prepared by Lord Peter Goldsmith at the behest of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to restrict rights to vote in UK elections to UK citizens, with the only exceptions being those laid down by EU law. The discussion is placed in the context of the evolving concept of citizenship in the European Union and its Member States, and for the purposes of the detailed analysis, deploys a composite concept of 'European citizenship', which combines both EU citizenship in the narrow sense, and national citizenship.

Keywords: Voting rights, immigration, citizenship, United Kingdom, European Union, Europe, law, constitutionalism, democracy

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Shaw, Jo, Citizenship and Electoral Rights in the Multi-Level 'Euro-Polity': The Case of the United Kingdom (March, 27 2009). A RIGHT TO INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION? NORMATIVE FAULT LINES OF THE EU'S AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY AND JUSTICE, H. Lindahl, ed., Hart Publishing, 2009, U. of Edinburgh School of Law Working Paper No. 2009/02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1369281