So, don’t delay – switch to a TIE now!

Michael Soffe : Do you believe the time will ever come when we overseas voters will have our own constituencies?

Yes, but not in this Parliament. To make it happen, firstly we need to make sure all MPs know what overseas constituencies are and why UK citizens overseas would be better served by overseas MPs than the current arrangement. This is the phase we are in. Then we need to get overseas constituencies as a policy into the Labour and Conservative manifestos (it is already Lib Dem policy) for the next General Election. The final phase will be to pass legislation in the next Parliament. This timetable is feasible but exacting. 

Ruth Woodhouse :  Do you believe that the outrageous behaviour of Donald Trump and the increasing unreliability of the US could speed up the process towards a strengthened UK-EU relationship?

Yes, I am confident that it will have this effect. 

The UK and the EU’s pro-Ukraine stance is driving this process and is already having this effect on UK-EU military relations. The UK’s pre-eminence as an arms manufacturer should put the UK in a strong position as Europe seeks to develop more effective joint procurement to re-equip its armies. This will require deeper cooperation between the UK and the EU.

Trump’s attacks on the international rules-based order are also driving the UK and the EU closer together. As an example of this, the US opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Moscow’s actions and supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity in the UN General Assembly. The UK and France then abstained on a US drafted resolution at the UN Security Council which called for an end to the conflict but contained no criticism of Russia.

However, were Trump to launch a trade war against the EU, but not the UK, this could trigger a cooling of UK-EU relations, particularly if the UK appeared to side with Trump or remained silent on the issue.  

Mike Phillips: With Trump’s recent betrayal of security guarantees for Ukraine, how best can Lib Dems encourage Starmer to give greater priority to strengthening links with Europe?

Trump’s actions are already making it clear to Sir Keir Starmer that the UK needs to strengthen its links, at all levels, with the EU.

To encourage Sir Keir Starmer, the Lib Dems should express vocal support for any UK/EU warming of relations, press him to go further than he would like and continue to speak out loudly (in a way it is difficult for the UK Government to do) against the chaos Trump is creating around him. 

Anon :  Some pro-Europeans are holding out for full EU membership while others are fighting for incremental changes to the Brexit deal. Which approach is likely to be more effective? 

The most effective approach in my view would be to gradually rebuild relations with the EU, start to make incremental changes that improve the Brexit deal, increase the UK’s limited influence over the EU and stop any UK legislative changes that could lead to further divergence.

This is the most likely route to rejoining the EU in the medium to long term. It would also mean we had demonstrated our reliability and commitment over a number of years, reducing the risk in the eyes of the EU that the UK is an untrustworthy partner who shouldn’t be allowed to rejoin. It would also give us the time to work on highlighting the benefits of EU membership, so we are in a strong position to fight the inevitable referendum. 

David Eldridge : What is the chance of electoral reform happening after the next election?

With all the smaller parties in favour of electoral reform, and the Labour party membership and trade union movement (if not the Labour leadership) backing PR, support for PR is growing. 

Add to that a two-party system that is splintering, leading to an increased likelihood of no party having a majority in the next Parliament. To form a government the larger party would require a coalition with a smaller party, which would likely seek PR as part of an agreed programme of government.

But to guarantee reform, we need the general public to be talking about electoral reform as one of the solutions to the UK’s longstanding and most intractable problems and putting pressure on the government for change. This isn’t happening at scale yet. Making PR the subject of supportive dinner table conversations is our biggest challenge and our best chance of ensuring PR for Westminster is in the next Labour manifesto.

Steve Wilson : With Labour MPs and members at odds with the government regarding Brexit and PR, do you think we can expect a change of approach before the next election?

The government are focused on delivering their five missions, with a sixth recently added, to boost the UK’s security and defence.

Although growth is central to its overall mission, and reversing some of the most damaging aspects of Brexit would be the quickest way to achieve growth, so far it looks as though the government is still too scared of ‘red wall’ voters to suggest any rapprochement that could be described as undoing Brexit. It has also painted itself into a corner by saying no single market, no customs union, no freedom of movement. So, I expect incremental improvements in UK/EU relations, not a big bang (see my answer to Ruth Woodhouse’s question).

For the answer on any change of approach to PR, see my answer to David Eldridge.

What do you consider Unlock Democracy’s greatest achievement, and your greatest challenge going forward?

Unlock Democracy’s greatest recent achievement is to have regained some of the visibility and influence it achieved in the years after it was first launched in 1988 (it was then called Charter 88). Unlock Democracy is now in regular conversations with government officials and MPs about a range of democratic reform issues, including automatic voter registration, postal votes for overseas voters, votes at 16, and foreign funding of UK politics. We expect a number of policies we have been campaigning for to be included in an Elections Bill which should be published in the next six months.

Our greatest challenge going forward is to broaden our support base so we can reach millions of people, rather than hundreds of thousands. This will be needed if we are to achieve electoral reform but also to reduce the UK’s vulnerability to a Trumpian-style insurgent government which denigrates and downgrades UK democracy and institutions.  

Lisa Burton : Do you think if Britain was to change its voting method from FPTP to a type of proportional representation it would remove some of the tribalism and help restore trust in politics?

PR isn’t a panacea. Introducing PR won’t, on its own, restore trust in politics. This will require action on a number of fronts. It will require:

• a period of stable government
• evidence the government can deliver
• an absence of newsworthy scandals involving MPs

However, PR would help on all of these fronts: 

• providing more continuity in government than First Past The Post (FPTP) voting which is leading to more and more unpredictable and potentially extreme outcomes 
• delivering more effective government with evidence that countries with PR are healthier, wealthier, have less income inequality and are more serious about tackling climate change than countries with FPTP

offering fewer safe seats leading to less risk-taking by MPs. 

On the subject of tribalism, PR for Westminster elections is likely to lead to coalition governments. Coalitions require parties to work together. This builds relations between politicians from different parties. It also means the policy solutions they design have to have wider electoral appeal. It may also reduce the chance that policies which coalition partners worked on together get scrapped after an election in which one of the coalition partners loses its seat at the Cabinet table.

Next month

Caroline Lucas was the UK’s first Green Party Member of Parliament between 2010 and 2024, and before that served for 10 years in the European Parliament.  She has also served as both Leader and Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales.  She is a writer, campaigner and keynote speaker, with a particular interest in the role of education and the arts in mobilising action on the climate and nature emergencies.  She has won numerous awards for her work: in 2020 she topped the list of the BBC Radio Woman’s Hour One Planet Power List of influential activists, educators and campaigners, and in 2024 the UK’s largest sustainable business awards scheme presented her with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

She is Co-President of the European Movement, and a Trustee of the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne.  Her latest book, a Sunday Times bestseller, is Another England: How to Reclaim our National Story.

If you would like to submit a question(s) for Caroline, please email us no later than Tuesday 8 April.

 Michael Soffe : Name your three greatest losses caused by leaving the EU and which of the three would you like to get back first?

From a purely selfish point of view, I’d like my career back. I used to present travel shorts and promos for companies across the EU. They were well-paid gigs and had me doing what I enjoy most: waking up somewhere new, presenting to camera and encouraging people to travel from a position of unique insight. Since Brexit, the offers declined, and now that I’d need a work permit, the offers have stopped entirely.

The second thing, which affects almost all of us, is how we can no longer freely travel around our own continent anymore. There are restrictions, and compromises have to be made. I can no longer even dream about retiring by the Med.

Finally, and again possibly selfishly, the cultural loss is something I take personally. There are the bands and singers, artists and dreamers who can no longer tour freely around our continent – the thousands of songs we’ll never hear, stories we’ll never read, films we’ll never see, all as a direct consequence of Brexit.

As a scouser who didn’t attend a private school, it really annoys me that the people who told us to vote for Brexit were almost all (to a man) members of that posh, pampered, privileged elite for whom this sort of thing isn’t a bother. They’ve lost NOTHING. They can afford the work permits, the visas, the residencia. Farage’s kids have German passports, Johnson’s dad lives in France, Tommy Ten Names has an Irish passport. No skin off their noses.

So yeah, what do I want more than anything? My freedom of movement. I want that back. I don’t see why it should be the reserve of the feckless, braying, inbred English neo-aristocracy.

Lisa Burton : How much more difficult would it be now, post Brexit, to visit all 193 UN member countries as you did previously?

It would be even more of a headache, that’s for sure. I mean it’s great that once I’m in the Schengen Area, I’ve got 29 countries I can visit without having to wait for 17 hours at each border, but what about the overseas territories of the EU that I had to pass through in order to complete my journey… Martinique, St Martin, Reunion, New Caledonia etc.? It would all add up. What if I went over my 90 days in 180?

Back when I was setting my Guinness World Record in 2010, the British passport was the most powerful in the world, something that gave me a bit of an edge to complete my mission. It no longer is. Furthermore, I don’t know if I could rely on representatives of EU countries coming to my aid if I got into a sticky situation – something they did when I was in Cape Verde and Congo.

I don’t think Brits who have rarely travelled outside of the EU know what it’s like crossing a “normal” border. They were lulled into a false sense that the freedoms we enjoyed, to buzz around our continent at a whim with minimum fuss were a given, that’s what it’s like everywhere, right? No

Anon : Of all the 193 UN member states you visited, which have made the most indelible impressions on you?

That’s a tricky one… since they all did! Sometimes for bad reasons, but more often for the best of reasons. Places like Egypt, Bolivia, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Thailand hold a special place in my heart, but it was Iran that really stood out. Terrible government for sure, but the people I met were just amazing. I got adopted everywhere I went!

My favourite memory of the entire journey was when I was on an overnight bus from Shiraz to Khorramshahr, and the little old lady sitting in front of me, who only spoke Farsi, passed me her phone. I put it to my ear, and the guy on the other end of the line introduced himself as Seyed, and told me (perfect English, by the way) that I was sitting behind his grandmother. She had called him because she was concerned about me. You see, the bus got in very early the next day, around 5am. She thought that I’d have nothing to do and nowhere to go. So, she wanted to know (if it was okay with me) if she could take me home with her and make me breakfast.

I get a bit teary when I recount that. Faith in humanity… restored!

Iran is also where I picked up my favourite saying: “Always be kind to strangers, for one day you might be the stranger.”

Steve Wilson : What lessons could the UK learn from other nations about democracy and dealing with far-right extremism?

I think there is a line that must be drawn, where people who don’t believe in democracy are not given a democratic platform.

Two things that I think are urgent: Firstly, clamping down on the misinformation and disinformation in the traditional media and on social media. We need press reform and robust legislation to curtail hate speech online. Hold the platforms accountable. Ofcom needs teeth, newspaper barons and the likes of GB News should no longer get away with spreading their lies and poison without any meaningful consequences. Germany is a good example of a place where Nazism is clamped down on hard (notwithstanding the recent AfD vote) and it’s against the law to deny or downplay the Holocaust.

Secondly, we need to equip our populations with the tools they need to spot bullshit wherever it appears. Finland does a great job with this, teaching kids in primary school how to identify fake news. Kids can then pass on what they’ve learnt to their parents, to their grandparents. It’s why Finland is the least likely place in Europe, and possibly the world, to fall for Russian propaganda etc.

Valerie Chaplin : How can we fight Starmer and his #MakeBrexitWork mantra?

Lobby Labour MPs. Most of them are decent people and want what’s best for the country. But be smart: going in all guns blazing demanding Brexit be reversed (although that’s what we all want to do) isn’t going to get us anywhere. Think about what moves we can realistically take with regards to greater cooperation with the EU: common defence strategies, youth mobility schemes, reviving Erasmus, joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) convention, a return as a full member of Euratom etc.

Every step on that journey is another step closer to rejoining the EU. But, don’t forget, we don’t just need Labour onside to make this happen, we need the vast majority of Brits onside as well, and while the number of people who think Brexit has gone well is declining by the day, there are still a sizeable number of “loonies” (to use the scientific term) who would defend even an imperfect Brexit like it was their firstborn.

Helen Johnston : The Government is failing to call out Trump and Musk and publishing Reform-style ads boasting “Labour hits 5-year high in migrant removals”. Where do we go from here?

Yes, it blows my mind. However, this is precisely why I’m not a politician. No way could I be diplomatic in the face of such provocation from the likes of Trump and Musk.

I guess Starmer has made the calculation that prohibitive tariffs placed on British goods entering the US would massively impact the UK economy, already reeling from Austerity, Brexit, Covid and Truss, and that our defence capabilities rely heavily on American hardware and software… so play nice, flatter the Mango Mussolini, while quietly plotting an exit strategy (one that I hope takes us back to our true friends in the EU).

As for those bloody ads… urgh. What were they thinking?!! I run a YouTube channel called Politics Social, and one topic that comes up more often than not when I’m chatting to Phil Moorhouse, Mike Galsworthy, Femi Oluwole, Marina Purkiss etc., is just how utterly dire Labour comms are. They make the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation look competent!

Those of us that have a bit of a platform are trying our best to encourage Labour to see how they’re coming across to the vast majority of us voters. My hope is that they get their act together in the next few years in time for the next election.

I want a Labour Party that works on the principles of the people who vote for them, not one that operates out of fear of those who do not.

Ruth Woodhouse : I understand you have stood as an independent candidate and as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats. Would you consider standing as a Rejoin EU candidate should the opportunity arise?

To be brutally honest, if there was a danger of me actually being elected, I wouldn’t have stood! I don’t want to be a politician, and I don’t think I’d make a particularly good one (not least because of the reason I gave in my last answer… I’m far too hot-headed).

As for Rejoin EU, I’m a bit torn. Since we live in a first-past-the-post system, there’s the argument that it takes the sensible vote away from other centre and left-wing parties, without any realistic chance of getting in an MP. That being the case, I would prefer to work with the rejoin wing of the Lib Dems or the Labour Movement for Europe in order to effect change from within the established parties. But yeah, if we had Proportional Representation, I would be more inclined to stand. Can’t say I’d make a “good” MP though!

David Eldridge : Do you think the UK will rejoin the EU one day and if so, what would the process and timescale be?

Yes. Absolutely. Of that I have no doubt whatsoever. I see it as inevitable. A geographic, historic, socio-economic certainty. There’s very little I’m thankful to that Wotsit Wanker in Washington for, but if he’s achieving anything right now, it’s frog-marching the UK back into the arms of our lovely neighbours. So, er, thanks for that, you Spray-Tan Satan.

Coupled with Vladimir Putin’s barbarous designs on the free peoples of Europe, I can see Reunification Day edging ever closer with each and every unhinged headline I read about the MAGA Mafia currently running America into the ground.

I think we’ll see more UK-EU cultural, economic and military agreements over the next four years, and when Trump refuses to leave the White House (I can’t see him ever leaving that place unless it’s in a box), the need for us to return home to the EU will become more pressing than ever.

I can see the 2029 election being fought on closer integration with the EU: single market, customs union, a free movement deal and perhaps even a legally binding referendum to rejoin in 2030.

If you had asked me that question a few months ago, I would have said a rejoin referendum in the 2034 Labour and Lib Dem manifestos was an outside possibility, but with that Tangerine Twat tearing up all international norms, that timeline is accelerating by the day.

Turns out, even the most toxic of clouds can have a silver lining…

Thanks for your questions. That was fun! Slava Ukraini.