Hong Kong BNO immigration and UK local elections: Enthusiasm and controversy for Hong Kong’s new immigrants to participate in UK politics – BBC News

Cui Tiancheng, who speaks English with a Hong Kong accent, is one of many Hong Kongers who participated in the local elections in England for the first time. It was he who said in a recent civil election forum that if you want to swim, you need to “jump into the water”.

At that evening forum in Sutton, a southern suburb of Greater London, there were many newcomers to Hong Kong.

Sutton is one of the areas near London where many new immigrants from Hong Kong have settled. A spokesman for Sutton Council told the BBC Chinese that more than 1,350 adult Hong Kongers are estimated to have settled there since the BNO visa scheme was implemented, believed to be related to Sutton’s “reputable schools, strong sense of community and low crime rate”.

In addition to saying “diving”, Cui Tiancheng also appealed to the new immigrants on the forum: “Our chance to move to the UK was earned by the sacrifice of many people. Everyone should remember the reason why we are here, do our best and do more. ”

The 48-year-old, a political amateur, worked in trade in Hong Kong before moving to the UK with his wife last March. According to reports, the great changes in Hong Kong in recent years have taught him a profound lesson, making him understand more deeply the invaluable ability to exercise civil and political rights under a fair system.

Having lived in Sutton for over a year, Choi is actively involved in community service. It is reported that when he served in the regional council at the end of last year, he came up with the idea of ​​contributing to the local community with his identity as a Hong Konger. After asking friends about the way, he decided to join the local Liberal Democrats branch, in the Cheam constituency, to stand for the district council.

Many people asked curiously, as a political amateur, did he go to run for election and understand British politics? Cui said frankly, he really didn’t know much at first. He said that before he came to the UK, he only knew that there were the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, and only after he came did he know that there were the Liberal Democrats. When it comes to the powers and duties of district council members, he lists the work areas of the council one by one, and he is somewhat hesitant.

However, this may be why he believes that everything requires a first time, such as “jumping into the water” to learn to swim.

According to reports, he will try his best to learn and learn from his party members during the election process, especially in terms of how to serve the community; he also travels with party members in different communities in the Sutton area every week, door-to-door lobbying and canvassing.

Recently, he once again followed the Liberal Democratic Party’s Sutton parliamentary leader Ruth Dombery to canvass votes across the constituency. Cui did not speak much throughout the whole process, and mainly hoped to seize the opportunity to observe and learn how Dombey spoke and communicated with voters easily and skillfully.

Cui said that he could feel the pulse of regional politics from these conversations, and knew which issues affected the emotions of voters. “I have learned a lot and listened to the problems faced by many voters and their worries, such as emergency room rounds. Waiting time is too long, dissatisfaction with traffic diversion arrangements, etc.”

As one of the new immigrants who took the lead in running for the election, Cui Tiancheng also faced various problems and challenges, one of which was the doubt about his eligibility for the election.

After he was confirmed as a candidate by the regional council and announced his candidacy with BNO passport status, some people also questioned whether Hong Kong immigrants with BNO status were eligible to run in the UK.

According to the regulations of the British Electoral Commission, Hong Kong immigrants holding BNO passports have the citizenship of the Commonwealth of Nations, and as long as they have the right of abode in the United Kingdom, they can have the right to vote in all elections.

The question of whether they are eligible to run is a grey area. According to the website of the Association of Local Governments of England and the election guidelines issued by the Greater London Municipal Government, Hong Kong people with BNO passports and BNO visas living in England have the right to stand for election.

However, Cheng Wenjie, founder of the British Hong Kong Overseas Chinese Association, quoted the guidelines issued by the British Election Commission to the BBC Chinese reporter and the Commission’s response to his inquiry, pointing out that the actual threshold for participating in the election may be higher.

According to the committee’s guidelines, eligible Commonwealth citizens must have permanent residency, or the right to stay in the UK without a residence permit. According to the above regulations, Hong Kong residents who hold BNO visas in the first 5 years after moving to the UK still only have “limited period of stay”, so they may fail to meet the specified requirements.

Cui Tiancheng said that after learning about the dispute, he was “shocked” and quickly discussed with Dombey, the leader of the regional assembly, and also consulted the political party’s election agents.

After some discussion, they responded that Cui Tiancheng has been accepted by the Sutton Local Council Returning Officer to run for election, reflecting that Hong Kong people with BNO status meet the relevant qualifications, so he will continue to run for the local council.

The Election Commission replied to the BBC’s Chinese enquiry that the Commission cannot comment on individual cases, and candidates have the responsibility to ensure that the information on the nomination documents they submit is correct, and that they meet a number of conditions for election and will not be disqualified.

Chen Yuming, who has twice run for the Hong Kong District Council, and his family of three moved to Haringey, north of Greater London, in February this year. He described himself as having “the blood of passion for politics” in his body. He registered as a voter shortly after arriving in the UK, and will walk into the polling station on polling day to experience the feeling of voting in the UK for the first time.

The 42-year-old has rich experience in political participation in Hong Kong. He was an active member of the social movement organization “FDC” and the pro-democracy party Civic Party. However, after he came to the UK, he was self-sufficient but had little understanding of the political culture here, especially regional politics, so even if he had the idea of ​​running for election, he felt a little clueless.

Chen Yuming said that he knew the political parties in the UK and their respective positions, but when it came to regional affairs, he was not very clear.

Chen Yuming felt that he still had to get used to it, especially by getting familiar with local political news. He also joked that he didn’t have local news sources at the moment and wouldn’t know if there was an emergency in central London.

Having said that, Chen is still active in getting to know and understand the surrounding communities, and he has also noticed that the community where he lives has immigrants from all over the world. The election issue he is most concerned about is how the regional council can help new immigrants to renew themselves and find employment. He said that he knew that there were some employment centers near the community, but he did not see how these centers helped immigrant middle-level professionals. Most of the employment opportunities were to work in warehouses or restaurants.

After perusing the platform leaflets of many local candidates, Chen decided to support the Conservative candidate. Although he knew the three local parliamentary seats were traditionally controlled by Labour, he still said he would vote positively.

“Try to vote first, try first and see how it happens,” he said.

Chen also stated that his political participation after coming to the UK will not be limited to voting.

After the British government began to relax the immigration policy for Hong Kong people holding British Nationals (Overseas), namely BNO passports, in 2020, as of the end of 2021, official figures show that 97,000 Hong Kong people have immigrated to the United Kingdom.

Chen Yuming believes that the newly arrived Hong Kong immigrants have a higher awareness of political participation. They will no longer only participate in the activities of Chinese associations like the older generation of immigrants, but will explore more opportunities for political participation and participation on their own. He said he has seen people running for elections, people making online broadcasts (talking about current affairs), and people looking for non-profit organizations.

More new immigrants also told BBC reporters that the atmosphere of Hong Kong immigrants’ enthusiasm to participate in politics has had a mutually contagious effect in the community. Xavier, a Hong Kong native who moved to the UK, said that he was “very happy” after hearing that Sutton had a Hong Kong person running for election; he also said that he “also paid attention to how to run for election, and wanted to see how other people did it and what kind of way there was.”

For Cui Tiancheng, who has “jumped into the water”, he is happy to see the enthusiasm of the new immigrant Hong Kong community to participate in politics. He said that in this election, he will not take the victory or defeat too seriously. He also hopes that his actions can play a leading role in encouraging more Hong Kong people to cherish the right to political participation in a free society.

“That’s the beauty of living in a democracy. You don’t have to resort to violence to fight for your rights and freedoms,” Cui Tiancheng said.

It is understood that the regional parliamentary candidates who will compete with Alex Chui on the same stage for the Cheam constituency include Conservative Party Eric Allen, Tony Shields, Vanessa Udall; Labour Party Sarah McGuinness, Simon Muir, George Richards; Ben Devlin, Harry Legge of the Liberal Democrats; and John Triggs of the Greens.

Ruth Dombery will also be running in Sutton North, alongside Greg Charles, Teresa O’Brien, Lyndon Edwards of the Labour Party; Phoebe Connell of the Green Party; Sam Cumber, Francis Hawton; and Aamir Haroon, Bryony Lindsay-Charlton, Rama Monhan of the Conservative Party.