11/04/2013 00:00
TW
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By Humphrey Carter

PALMA
A year ago, Eric Pickles, the Chairman of the Conservative Party, unveiled the Tories' international election campaign plan here in Majorca and the party has this week issued a rally cry to all the British expatriates who register to vote before the April 20 deadline, to do so and cast their vote for the Conservatives next month.

Last October, Conservatives Abroad held their Autumn Convention on the island and it was during the two-day meeting that various international branches attending the conference were instructed on how the international election campaign was to be mounted and members around the world are now canvassing expatriates who are registered to vote in a bid to secure as much international support for the party as possible with the election destined to be a close run affair.

One of the keynote speakers at the meeting was Philip Dunne MP and Deputy Chairman Conservative Party International Office.
The slogan for the convention was “how many expatriates does it take to change a government?” The party hopes lots, and last month, William Hague made an appeal to overseas voters in the Daily Telegraph.
TIRED GOVERNMENT “The upcoming general election presents those eligible to vote in the UK with a choice: five more years of Gordon Brown's tired government making things worse; or change with David Cameron and the Conservative Party, with the energy, leadership and values to get this country moving,” he wrote. “British citizens living overseas cannot afford five more years of Gordon Brown. Because of his economic mismanagement, Britons overseas find themselves worse off. “People are paying more tax and National Insurance on their incomes and pensions than in 1997. “Mr Brown's pension raid means that you are not receiving the pensions you thought you would, the pensions you worked hard for and contributed to all your life,” wrote Hague who has also addressed members of Conservatives Abroad here in Majorca in the past.

There are an estimated 2.5 million Britons living overseas and those that still own a property in the UK or have lived abroad for less than 15 years are entitled to vote in the general election and can still register to do so.

Since Pickles unveiled the Conservative's global election campaign last year, he and many other MPs have travelled to the United States, Dubai and Hong Kong, for example, to court the expatriate community for its vote.

DO BRITONS CARE?
But, do Britons who have decided to emigrate really care about what happens in the United Kingdom?
For example, there are more than one million British expatriates registered as living here in Spain, but in the last general elections, only 18'000 registered to vote.

The focus of the international campaign has been mainly centered on young professionals posted overseas but who either still have immediate family back in the UK or will eventually return to work and live in Britain.

Paul Gordon, the Honorary Secretary of Conservatives Abroad in Madrid said this week that the majority of British expatriates are Tory voters and that Britons living overseas, have found themselves worse off under Labour with the income from pensions having fallen by between 30 and 40 percent.

Labour have also been turning to their international branches for support but on a much more lower key.
Letters have been sent to known Labour supporters living overseas, but there has been no international campaign mounted. They obviously do not believe the expatriate vote can change a government.