{"id":60,"date":"2016-03-02T23:25:12","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T22:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/?p=60"},"modified":"2016-03-02T23:25:12","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T22:25:12","slug":"my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/","title":{"rendered":"My letter to my MP – a quick response"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I was pleasantly surprised that my letter sent to Rebecca Pow<\/a> received a response within a few hours – which also outlines her reasons for not having declared\u00a0whether she is “in” or “out” at this point in time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dear Mr Bailey,<\/p>\n

Thank you for contacting me about the franchise for the nearing referendum on the UK\u2019s membership of the EU.<\/p>\n

May I, first, thank you for your kind words concerning my operation. Thankfully, I shall be returning to Westminster next week.<\/p>\n

To address your main concerns. I fully appreciate the frustrations you have on the current franchise rules in the UK. Please be assured the Government is still committed to scrapping the 15-year time limit on UK nationals resident overseas voting. However, the Government does not believe that the EU Referendum Bill to be the correct Bill through which to bring about these changes.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this does mean that only British nationals that have been resident abroad for fewer than 15 years will be able to vote in the EU referendum.<\/p>\n

I understand that this not the answer you hoped for but as I say please be assured that the issues surrounding the current franchise rules are at the forefront of the Government plans.<\/p>\n

Lastly, I agree on the momentous nature of this decision, and is why I will not declare whether I am \u201cin\u201d or \u201cout\u201d until I have exhausted all the material on the pros and cons of each argument. I know that this is about the future of the United Kingdom, a truly historical decision.<\/p>\n

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me and please do not hesitate to do so again in the future.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n

Rebecca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was pleasantly surprised that my letter sent to Rebecca Pow received a response within a few hours – which also outlines her reasons for not having declared\u00a0whether she is “in” or “out” at this point in time.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,16],"tags":[124,142],"class_list":["post-60","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-year-rule","category-electoral-reform","category-uk","tag-rebecca-pow","tag-taunton-deane"],"yoast_head":"\nMy letter to my MP - a quick response - UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My letter to my MP - a quick response - UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was pleasantly surprised that my letter sent to Rebecca Pow received a response within a few hours – which also outlines her reasons for not having declared\u00a0whether she is “in” or “out” at this point in time.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-02T22:25:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mdgb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mdgb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mdgb\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"mdgb\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/person\/ad27b0be8b923dcbdc62f0746c70ecb9\"},\"headline\":\"My letter to my MP – a quick response\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-02T22:25:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\"},\"wordCount\":293,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Rebecca Pow\",\"Taunton Deane\"],\"articleSection\":[\"15 year rule\",\"electoral reform\",\"UK\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\",\"name\":\"My letter to my MP - a quick response - UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-02T22:25:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My letter to my MP – a quick response\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/\",\"name\":\"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026\",\"description\":\"Charting my course from finding out that I was ineligible to vote through to living as Briton in Europe post-referendum\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/cropped-brit_eu_aust_logo_blog-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/cropped-brit_eu_aust_logo_blog-2.png\",\"width\":240,\"height\":240,\"caption\":\"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/person\/ad27b0be8b923dcbdc62f0746c70ecb9\",\"name\":\"mdgb\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8c4cdc8e21bfdf68e8372bd65db8d03398b9760d21e87bb5ccf7549623452be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8c4cdc8e21bfdf68e8372bd65db8d03398b9760d21e87bb5ccf7549623452be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mdgb\"},\"description\":\"45 years old, came to Austria in 97\/98 for nine months and then moved permanently in July 2000. At the time of starting this blog, I have been in Austria for more than half my lifetime.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/mdgb\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/author\/uk-referendum-2016\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My letter to my MP - a quick response - UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"My letter to my MP - a quick response - UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026","og_description":"I was pleasantly surprised that my letter sent to Rebecca Pow received a response within a few hours – which also outlines her reasons for not having declared\u00a0whether she is “in” or “out” at this point in time.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/","og_site_name":"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026","article_published_time":"2016-03-02T22:25:12+00:00","author":"mdgb","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mdgb","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mdgb","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/"},"author":{"name":"mdgb","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/person\/ad27b0be8b923dcbdc62f0746c70ecb9"},"headline":"My letter to my MP – a quick response","datePublished":"2016-03-02T22:25:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/"},"wordCount":293,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#organization"},"keywords":["Rebecca Pow","Taunton Deane"],"articleSection":["15 year rule","electoral reform","UK"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/","url":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/","name":"My letter to my MP - a quick response - UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-02T22:25:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/2016\/03\/02\/my-letter-to-my-mp-a-quick-response\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My letter to my MP – a quick response"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#website","url":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/","name":"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026","description":"Charting my course from finding out that I was ineligible to vote through to living as Briton in Europe post-referendum","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#organization","name":"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026","url":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/cropped-brit_eu_aust_logo_blog-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/cropped-brit_eu_aust_logo_blog-2.png","width":240,"height":240,"caption":"UK Referendum on EU Membership 2016 \u2013 A Briton in Austria speaks out\u2026"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/person\/ad27b0be8b923dcbdc62f0746c70ecb9","name":"mdgb","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8c4cdc8e21bfdf68e8372bd65db8d03398b9760d21e87bb5ccf7549623452be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c8c4cdc8e21bfdf68e8372bd65db8d03398b9760d21e87bb5ccf7549623452be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mdgb"},"description":"45 years old, came to Austria in 97\/98 for nine months and then moved permanently in July 2000. At the time of starting this blog, I have been in Austria for more than half my lifetime.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/mdgb"],"url":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/author\/uk-referendum-2016\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbailey.at\/uk-referendum-2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}