2. Eligibility
• In general elections, both British and
Commonwealth citizens are eligible to register
(and vote)
• Britain allows dual citizenship though India and
some African countries do not
• Access to British citizenship has become
progressively harder (though is still quite
generous in comparison with some other
European countries)
• Virtually all 2nd generation minorities are British
citizens
3. Citizenship in the first generation
British C’wealth Other
Indian 51 48 1
Pakistani 74 25 1
Bangladeshi 75 23 2
Black Caribbean 89 7 4
Black African 58 29 14
4. Registration
• Britain currently has household registration,
though is moving to individual registration
• Registers of electors are available for public
inspection, so we checked them to see if our
sample actually were registered (at the
sample addresses).
5. Registration among those eligible
Valid wrongly rightly
Yes Yes No
White British 90 6 2
Indian 80 11 7
Pakistani 83 11 3
Bangladeshi 77 13 5
Black Caribbean 80 10 6
Black African 65 16 12
6. Turnout among those registered
Self-reported Validated
White British 81 78
Indian 83 76
Pakistani 81 76
Bangladeshi 81 78
Black Caribbean 76 78
Black African 76 72
7. Vote among validated voters
Labour Cons LD
White British 30 37 22
Indian 63 22 14
Pakistani 58 12 27
Bangladeshi 66 19 13
Black Caribbean 78 9 11
Black African 87 6 7
8. Conclusions
• Registration, not citizenship or turnout, is the key
barrier
• And registration may become more of an issue
with the move to individual registration
• Minority turnout very similar to that of the
majority group
• But vote choice remains very different
• Growing differentiation between minorities, but
ethnicity remains the single most powerful
‘cleavage’ in British politics
