No voice for absent crofters

Published on Sunday 2 February 2003 00:00

CIVIL servants have closed a legal loophole to stop nearly 2,000 crofters living as far away as Turkey and Texas from voting to seize their laird’s land.

The controversial Land Reform Bill is due to be given the Royal Assent later this month.

The bill grants communities the absolute right to buy all or part of the land on estates with crofting tenure, whether the owner wants to sell or not.

All that is needed is a simple majority of crofters and of the wider community in which they live.

But the Crofters’ Commission estimate that there are nearly 2,000 absentee crofters, who could have technically voted to seize the land from their landlords - even though the missing tenants are in some cases living thousands of miles away.

Now civil servants who drafted the bill have closed the loophole. When it receives the Royal Assent it will only allow those crofters who are on the area’s electoral roll and/or live within a radius of 10 miles to vote.

"They will not have a vote by virtue of having a crofting tenancy. Certain criterion will have to be met to stop absentees from voting," confirmed a spokesman for the Scottish Executive.