Permission to appeal application
20 May 2016
R (on the application of Shindler and another) (Appellants) v Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and another (Respondents) UKSC 2016/0105
On appeal from the Court of Appeal Civil Division (England and Wales)
The Supreme Court held an oral hearing of the application for permission to appeal, with the appeal to follow immediately if permission to appeal was granted.
The appellants challenged the lawfulness under EU law of section 2 of the EU Referendum Act 2015 in respect of its exclusion from the EU Referendum franchise British citizens who, in exercise of their EU free movement rights, reside outside the UK and have been resident outside the UK for a period of more than 15 years. The appellants claim that their disenfranchisement constitutes a unjustified restriction of their EU law rights to move and reside within the territory of the Member States and separately that the common law affords protection to their right to vote as British citizens and full members of the United Kingdom.
The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal and the Court of Appeal judgment will therefore stand.