The ‘International’ Vote: A UK election wild card?

Gordon Brown (left), David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Will there be a coalition among the three UK candidates after tonight? Photo Credit: Feyip/flickr

By Soo Kim and Aoife Yourell

World leaders and citizens alike welcomed the election of US President Barack Obama in 2008 with a standing ovation. It was evident that if ever there was ‘world vote’, Obama had already won it. But would that same world share such enthusiasm and decisiveness in today’s UK elections? If the vast non-British population were eligible to vote, would they have been the wild card to turn the election tables upside down?

The international community accounts for a significant portion of the UK population. According to the latest figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, around 505,000 non-British citizens came to live in the UK in 2008—a figure that has been rising since 2004. The Labour Force Survey showed there were 3.8 million people aged 16 and over who were born abroad but working in the UK in the last quarter of 2008, representing 13 per cent of the total employed in the UK.

Figures also show that London had the largest number of non-UK born residents compared to other Government Office Regions, so an ‘international vote’ from the migrants in this city alone would have either been a crucial boost or loss to any of the party candidates.

The parties and immigration policy

Immigration policy has been a contested topic among candidates and would have been an important factor for non-British voters. But none of the candidates had a policy favourable to migrants and it may be difficult to predict who would have gotten the vote from the internationals.  Speeches, such as the one below from Gordon Brown addressing illegal migrants, would have certainly turned voters away from the Labour party:

“To those migrants who think they can get away without making a contribution, without respecting our way of life, without honouring the values that make Britain what it is—I have only one message—you are not welcome.”

Jan Brulc from the Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) said the Labour party has “fallen into a trap of taking a problem that resonates with the public and then blow it out of proportion.”

“Reinforcing people in their belief that migration is out of control is worse than scaremongering, it completely misses the real issue and it inevitably fails in addressing it,” she said.

MRN’s policy officer Ruth Grove-White agreed: “The direction for immigration policy under a further Labour term seems likely to be more of the same, only more restrictive.”

While the Labour party might not have been a favourite among migrant voters, the Conservatives’ policy would not have sat well with them either.

Who would you vote for if you could?

The First Pint’s Aoife Yourell asked a number of young internationals living in London:

Hanna Hauck, 24, who came to the UK almost four years ago from Germany, said, “I’d either vote for Labour or the Liberal Democrats. One of the reasons is that I was especially appalled by David Cameron’s comments about immigration in the last leader’s debate.”

Grove-White agreed, saying: “The Conservatives have been busy shooting themselves in the foot with the notion of an annual limit on skilled non-EU migrant workers, pretty much the only distinct policy on immigration that the Tories have noisily had up their sleeves over the past few months.”

But international residents seem drawn to Liberal-Democrat party candidate Nick Clegg, who was given a second look by the country after this year’s first televised national debates. Grove-White was impressed with his proposals for “introducing a regional points-based system for economic migration, putting in place a one-off ‘earned regularisation’ of undocumented migrants, and allowing asylum seekers to work,” but said “the devil would be in the detail.” And that is what’s lacking.

The lesser of two evils

Indu Chandrasekhar, 23, from the US and in the UK for over a year, believes Gordon Brown is still the man for the job but says, “I like what the Liberal Democrats stand for, but I don’t think they can make their promises a reality—especially when they can’t suggest concrete plans.

“Labour has made a mess of things recently, but the Conservatives’ cuts are going to cripple the country and make it much harder for us internationals to stay here—not the most welcoming prospect.”

Alexandra Zeevalkink, 26, from the Netherlands, has been living and working in the UK for about six years. She believes in Gordon Brown but also agrees with the Liberal-Democrats’ party platform. “My ideal view would be a coalition between the two with Brown staying in office.”

Lorena Fernandez-Abdo, 25, in London since last year, was also torn. “I would vote for Nick Clegg because voting for him is the only way to secure a change in the voting system.”

Chandrasekhar agrees there is an underlying problem with the voting process. “I think the amount of show-biz star power placed on the candidates distorted the way people see the voting process here, because liking a leader does not change the fact that in the UK you vote for a party, not a candidate.”

Nick Clegg seems to be most favoured by the international community. As current polls point toward a Conservative victory, perhaps the voice of these non-British citizen voters could have made a difference, even if meant choosing ‘the lesser of two evils’ with the Conservatives left out of the race.

So may the least evil man win tonight.