In the rough-and-tumble of democracy, a general election is that magic moment when you kick out a politician who has reneged on their promises, or reward one who has fulfilled them. The genius, or cynicism, of Theresa May’s early election is that, after so few months of government, she has no real record to study.

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But here, for those wondering about her ability to flout any of her own government’s solemn pledges, is a whopper that has left millions of UK citizens in the lurch.

In October her minister for the constitution, Chris Skidmore, made a clear and unequivocal pledge to bring UK citizens living abroad back into the democratic fold, by allowing them to vote, before the next election. This was especially important to those whose lives are most traumatically affected by Brexit because they live elsewhere in the EU.

“If you were born in the UK, or have been a citizen living in the UK, then by the next general election, you will have an inalienable right to decide your country’s future,” he said.

He meant that those of us who have lived outside the United Kingdom for more than 15 years – including many of the 1.2 million UK citizens who work and live elsewhere in the European Union – could vote again.

The Cabinet Office was so pleased with itself that it put out a press release with the extraordinary headline: “Government delivers on pledge to give back British expats the right to vote.” This was absurd overhype, since a policy statement is a pledge, not the delivery of one. Six months later it reads like a lie.

None of this has happened. On 8 June the millions of UK citizens living abroad will still be unable to vote. Those of us in the EU who were barred from the referendum that turned our lives upside down (despite a similar, clear promise in the 2015 Conservative party manifesto) are now also barred from voting for the government that will decide on the terms of Brexit. That decision includes whether we must lose the rights that are the bedrock on which so many people have established lives, families and careers. Those of us who live in the EU know that, given the complex interrelationship of these rights, only a guarantee that all of them will be maintained makes sense – a promise we have yet to hear from May. Will she trade away any of them in order to restrict the rights of EU citizens living in the UK? We still do not know.

For those wishing to understand how all this feels, I recommend the Electoral Commission’s own “hidden camera” videos urging people to sign up to vote by the end of today. These have been airing regularly on British TV. They feature groups of people who are randomly prevented from doing what others are allowed to do. “Some people can come in. Some people can’t,” says an official stopping people at a park gate. “That’s nonsense!” says a woman walking her dog.

That is what it feels like when “the government delivers on a pledge” and then, bizarrely, does not. To add insult to injury, I am currently on a visit to Manchester from my home in Madrid and the internet is bombarding me with adverts urging me to register. I wish.

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Today, those of you living in the UK can still sign up to vote (the deadline is midnight). You may not realise how lucky you are, or how frustrating it is to be excluded from democracy. But when you do vote, you may want to consider the fact that the Conservative party – and May – has failed to deliver on at least one, oft-repeated pledge.

The promise to allow all UK citizens abroad to vote is there again in this year’s Conservative manifesto. Do they mean it this time? I think they probably do, but the only way they will win the future votes of angry UK citizens in Europe is to safeguard something very precious: the full body of rights on which we have built our lives.