Make Votes Count for HIV

posted: 07/04/2010

Your local parliamentary candidates want your vote on 6 May. Whoever you vote for, now is the time to make sure all the local candidates know you care about HIV and sexual health, and you want them to make it a priority if they get elected as your MP. 

Two minutes is all it takes to ask your candidates to stand up for HIV. THT has written a pledge for candidates to support before the election:

"I pledge to support better public health in the UK through earlier diagnosis of HIV and sexual ill health and by improving public understanding of the issues."

Please take two minutes to ask your candidates to sign up to this general election pledge here
Thanks you for your support.
 

More general election HIV campaigning action ideas
 

Register to Vote before 20 April
 

Register to vote by Tuesday 20 April – you must do this on paper, and by post, and allow enough time for them to add you to the register. Download the registration form and find out where to send it

Who can vote and how do I register?

You can register to vote, if you are:
• 16 years old or over (but you won't be able to vote until your 18th birthday), AND
• a British citizen, OR
• an Irish, EU, or qualifying Commonwealth citizens.
“Qualifying Commonwealth citizens are those who have leave to enter or remain in the UK, or do not require such leave.”

Note although any EU citizen here can register to vote, people from the EU have to be a UK or Irish citizen to vote at this UK general election – so you can’t vote at this election if you are Spanish, for example. (EU citizens can only vote at local government and EU elections).

Registering to Vote
You can't register to vote online – but you can print out, sign and post the application form to your local council's Electoral Registration Office.

Nationality Question
One question you must answer on the form is about your nationality – simply write in Zimbabwean, or whatever your nationality is – this must be UK, Irish, a Commonwealth country, for you to vote on May 6th.

The electoral registration form has a simple declaration you must sign which says
“As far as I know, the details on this form are true and accurate. I understand that to provide false information on this form is an offence, punishable on conviction of up to 6 months and/or a fine.
I confirm that I am a British, Irish, European Union or qualifying Commonwealth citizen.
Qualifying Commonwealth citizens have leave to enter or remain in the UK, or do not require such leave.”
Normally if you sign this, it is simply accepted. You are not normally asked to show any documents to prove your nationality and leave status.
 

Am I a 'qualifying Commonwealth Citizen'?
Section B 6 in the Guidance for Electoral Registration Officers explains who can register.
Unfortunately it doesn't tell us this in plain English.

The George House Trust guide to who can register to vote
This is our understanding of the rules:
 

If you are a citizen of one of the Commonwealth countries listed below, what matters is
do you

• require leave to enter, or
• have you been granted leave to remain, or
• are you treated as having leave to enter, or
• are you treated as having leave to remain.

If your honest belief, after checking the information below, is that you can truthfully sign the application to register for a vote - As far as I know, the details on this form are true and accurate - you can apply for a vote.

Commonwealth countries
Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Leave to enter
Commonwealth citizens always require leave to enter, unless they have the right of abode.

Most Commonwealth citizens with right of abode in the United Kingdom can simply check their passport – a UK stamp in the passport will state if you have the right of abode in the United Kingdom; or you will have a UK certificate of entitlement certifying the right of abode.

Some other Commonwealth citizens will have the right of abode, even if they don't have this stamp in their passport, or a certificate of entitlement. It is unlikely recent migrants from the Commonwealth will have this because this right of abode depends on your birth, or marriage. South Africans and Pakistani citizens don’t have this type of right of abode.
 

Leave to remain
Who has leave to remain is complicated, but people with leave to remain will either have a current, valid stamp in their passport saying you have leave to remain, or will have some other Home Office / Borders and Immigration Agency official document or letter saying this.
The rules about leave to remain are here, and depend on your reason for being here.

Treated as having leave to enter
Commonwealth citizens who have made a valid claim for asylum, or for humanitarian protection, who have not had a final refusal, are treated as having leave to enter.

Treated as having leave to remain
Commonwealth citizens whose claim for asylum or humanitarian protection has been approved, are treated as having leave to remain. Others are also be treated as having leave to remain, for example refused asylum seekers who are receiving ‘section 4 support’.
 

If you think you should be treated as having leave to remain, you could check with a Citizens Advice Bureau, or your immigration adviser. We suggest you print this information and take it to them, with your passport, and any official letters, or papers about your immigration / asylum situation.

No right to vote
Other Commonwealth citizens, including people whose

• claims for asylum or humanitarian protection have had a final refusal, or
• who have overstayed their visa, or 
• who entered the UK irregularly,

have no right to vote.

You cannot have the right to vote in the UK if you are not a citizen of a Commonwealth country, or if you are not a citizen of an EU country. This means, for example, citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, USA, Brazil, etc. can't ever vote in UK elections (unless they become British).

George House Trust offers this information in good faith. If you are in doubt about your right to register for a vote, you can ask your local Citizen's Advice Bureau, or your immigration / asylum adviser. We suggest you print this information and take it to them, with your passport and any official letters or papers about your immigration or asylum situation.

Official Guidance
The Guidance for Electoral Registration Officers says
Commonwealth citizens - Entitlement to vote
6.14 Qualifying Commonwealth citizens are entitled to register as Parliamentary and as local government electors provided that they also fulfil the age and residence requirements for such registration and are not subject to any other legal incapacity.
Meaning of ‘qualifying Commonwealth citizen’
6.15 A person who is a Commonwealth citizen is a qualifying Commonwealth citizen for registration purposes if they do not require leave to remain in the UK or they do require leave to remain in the UK but have been granted such leave or are treated as having been granted such leave.
6.16 Any type of leave to remain is acceptable, whether indefinite, time limited or conditional.
6.17 Qualifying citizens of the following countries meet the nationality criteria to register in respect of all elections.
Commonwealth countries
Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Asylum
6.18 The fact that an applicant or elector has claimed asylum has no connection to their right to be registered as an elector ….. The Electoral Registration Officer can only make enquiries as to nationality and whether a person has any type of leave to remain in the UK.
 

Drug Company Money - No Thanks

posted: 16/10/2009

The debate about whether George House Trust should change its long-standing policy of not taking funding from drug companies ended with a very clear vote against this, from the Annual General Meeting last night. 85% of the voters at the Annual General Meeting rejected the proposal to consider accepting funding from the major drug companies.

There was a clear feeling that we should keep our moral stance and retain our principled opposition, so we are seen to be clearly independent of drug companies in our advice, information and other work. 

George House Trust will write a clear policy on refusing drug company funding and how this fits with our core values, and promote this in our publicity and to potential funders.

Elections and Accounts

Annual General Meetings are about elections and accounts too - so the accounts were accepted and the re-appointment of auditors was approved, and trustees were elected to serve on the board.

We would like to give our appreciation and thanks to Trustees who have stood down from the board: Jonathan Atkin, Agnes Kuzoraunye, Mervis Makhaza. 

Trustees for 2009-10

Reappointed, are trustees:

• Steven Ainscow
• Gerwyn Knight
• Deborah Mgijima
• Stewart Murau

New trustees:

• Paul Fairweather
• David Teasdale
• Jonathan Watts

Trustee Officers 

• Chair - Jim Vann,
• Treasurer - Colin Davies,
• Vice Chair - Damian Kelly

We have advertised for two external trustees and the outcome of this process will be announced at a later date.

Image credit from The Rag Blog