The EU election 2019 may signal an upsurge of support for Liberal Democrats, but it is not a good day for our democracy when #deniedmyvote suddenly emerged everywhere in the UK during the Election Day.

Professor Tanja Bueltmann (@cliodaspora) first started this hashtag in order to find out how widespread was the situation where EU citizens were turned away from polling centres and denied their right to vote.

Even to her surprise, in her own words, 'I did not see coming the thousands of tweets and stories. The scale is huge. Today was so much worse than I expected.'

Here are some examples:

@marcellafinazzi went to the polling station with her orange poll card on the Election Day, but she was turned away because she was identified as an Italian citizen, though the polling card clearly said she was registered to vote for South West Region in England.

@leedseurope mentioned a case where a Polish woman 'was told SIX times she could not vote, but was insistent and eventually they found her on the roll and she has now voted'.

@renatadegroot was turned away because she was an EU citizen, she 'called the council & it's because they didn't send me a form in time. They told me to take it up with the post office'

I was in Hong Kong in March, and most of my friends had asked me the same question: How's the progress with BN(O) equal rights movement and how did Brexit affect it?

So what is BN(O)? It stands for British National (Overseas). According to the Home Office website, it means 'Someone who was a British overseas territories citizen by connection with Hong Kong was able to register as a BN(O) before 1 July 1997.' They are not granted Right of Abode anywhere, including the UK and HK.

Below is an excerpt from a piece on Politics Home that Alistair Carmichael wrote. For the full piece click here.

Back in 2014, the Umbrella Movement started a 79 day protest movement of passive resistance and non-violent direct action seeking free and fair elections in Hong Kong. At its peak the centre of Hong Kong was brought to a standstill by massive occupations. While ultimately unsuccessful, it was a display of peaceful protest that shook the Chinese government to the core and, as such, was never going to be allowed to go unanswered.

This was my 4th Remain March - and still only the 4th protest I've ever attending in person and we knew it was going to be huge! So proud to be one of the million who marched in London for a Final Say for All.

I say march, in reality it was standing for 3 hours and then shuffling for another 2. We didn't even make it down most of the march but that didn't matter - we were in the middle of a peaceful, friendly crowd, with witty placards and every demographic from very young to old. And I knew I was stood on the right side of history.

Satellite pictures, budget scrutiny and project tender documents, have contributed to mounting evidence from local testimony that the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang in Western China are embarked on a strategy of mass incarceration of the broadly secular majority Muslim Uyghur population in the province.

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

This statement, from the LD party constitution, has been our guiding principle since the party was formed in 1988.

On 20 February, at a forum kindly hosted by the Rt Hon Lord McNally at the House of Lords, key stakeholders from the Chinese community and guests attended the launch of an important research on the state of Chinese community centres today, the challenges they face and their strategies for survival into the future.

A Happy New Year greeting to friends and members of the Chinese community in the UK and to all who celebrate the Lunar New Year during this time of year!

We are entering a year of uncertainty with Brexit on the horizon, but I am confident and proud of the continuing contributions of the Chinese diaspora communities to the UK. Some of you have been here for generations from Hong Kong and other former colonies, and others more recently from the People's Republic of China, whether to study or to work. We welcome you and are pleased to celebrate this important festival in the cultural calendar with you.

It is in this spirit that we celebrate what has been called a 'golden era' of UK and China's long standing relationship. Two-way trade and investment have grown rapidly. But a positive relationship between UK and China is more than about trade, it is also based on mutual trust, co-operation and a shared global outlook. We would like to participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative that reaches across continents whilst at the same time assist in China's reform and opening up which is to our mutual benefit.

Frank Wang, a local coffee cart owner in London was asked by Transport for London (TFL) to move his business away because a new developer wanted to open a restaurant right behind his stall.

Frank, who has been serving his very popular and reasonably priced coffee to Bethnal Green residents for more than 15 years says he has been subjected to verbal abuse from the developer and then when he refused to consent to give up the business he had built from scratch, said he got his electricity and water supply cut off.

Are you interested in standing to be a candidate in the Local elections in May 2019? One of the key aims of the Chinese Liberal Democrats is to promote and bring through more candidates from a Chinese or East Asian background to stand. With the large number of local elections in May 2019 we would love to see even more candidates on the slate and increase the number of Councillors we have with a Chinese background.