To think if you can't understand English/Welsh or Gaelic you shouldn't be voting in a British election?

[Yetanotherwaterbottle]

Is this unreasonable?

The Greens desperation is doing serious damage to their brand.

How patronising. Some people struggle to acquire good levels of literacy for genuine reasons and it has nothing to do with intelligence. It is, however, a precursor to ongoing challenges including a propensity to criminality. Up to 50% of prisoners are functionally illiterate.

Ermmm. Deliberate irony missed there.

So patronising and superior. Ok then.

Not sure what your beef is. Perhaps address the OP's point?

Nice to know you think deaf signers and other non-verbal disabled people shouldn't be able to vote OP.

I’ll address whatever I like. Your post was offensive by implying that people with low levels of literacy lack intelligence.

I'm very sorry if you missed my point and that is all I shall say. Of course I think people with poor English should have a right to vote. It was my whole point. It's OP and people with these kinds of views who might suggest thta intelligence can be measured and policed. I think you know I meant that, really.

As it goes, the prison population - who you mention- are one of the very few groups that do not get a vote.

It is also deeply deeply offensive to suggest that people whose first language isn't English shouldn't vote.

@Fearlesssloth "Everyone who is a resident of a country has the right to vote for the government of that country."

This is not true. About 10% of adults resident in the UK do not have the right to vote in the UK Parliamentary elections because they are not qualified to do so - mainly because they are not British. For example, none of the European or American citizens resident in the UK can vote in UK Parliamentary elections, even if they are taxpayers. Millions of EU citizens resident and paying tax in the UK were not allowed to vote in the Brexit referendum.

This is not exclusive to the UK, but it does mean that there are millions of people who are subject to taxation but who have no representation in the Parliament of the country in which they live.

Of note is that Commonwealth citizens registered to vote in the constituency can vote. Some of whom may not speak English as a first language , of course.

Scotland and Wales have broader voting eligibility for their own elections.

If you're insulted by being called a racist, maybe you could try not being racist?

I can think of plenty of white British people who were born here who can barely string a coherent sentence together. I wouldn’t trust them to tie their shoe laces, let alone vote.

That’s Gaelic.

What did I say that was racists? I’m not even white. I’m terrified of reform getting in, and people who are incapable of calmly engaging with those they disagree with are part of the reason they are getting so many votes.

No. It isn't.

Yeah. It is.

Or I should say 'naw it isnae'.

Gaelic is a language spoken in Scotland by a minority of Scots. Scots is another language spoken by some Scots.

Well, first of all, anyone who is allowed to vote in the UK must have either ILR (for, I believe, some local elections) or be a British citizen. And to be either of those things, you must have already passed an English language test or be from an English speaking country and you must pass a Life in the UK test, which requires a grasp of UK history and politics that most British people don’t possess.

I’ve had to do both of the above to become a British citizen and acquire the right to vote. Something that many native British English speakers could benefit from frankly.

Beg your pardon - I Googled and Scots is indeed a language where I thought it was a dialect.

Commonwealth citizens can vote too. And Irish.

A) Bhòt air mo shon mas e do thoil e

B) Na, pleidleisiwch drosof i

Ok OP who are you voting for?

Thank you.

So over half respondents think I'm not being unreasonable, but most the posters are saying I am.

I am willing to bet these posters aren't so quick to defend English migrants in Spain who complain because they can not understand Spanish.

Never heard of sarcasm?

How exactly are those related?