British and Irish Lions rugby players proactive ahead of United Kingdom election

A British High Commission bus that will be going to every Lions game during the tour. Picture / Ben Hill

Proactive members of the British and Irish Lions touring party have made sure they don't miss out on having their say on who leads the UK.

The election will take place on June 9 (NZT), and despite being halfway across the world the players and management have made sure they placed their votes.

A team spokesman said although there was no team-organised effort to ensure players had voted, he assumed most would've made arrangements to do so before the tour began.

British nationals in other countries have two options on how to cast their votes - either through a postal vote or by proxy, where someone else can vote for you.

According to the UK government website, voting by proxy is advised if the election is less than two weeks away to avoid the risk of postal votes not arriving in time.

A UK High Commission spokesman told the Herald that although they can't enable Brits to cast votes, they recently undertook a push to help expats register to vote.

The High Commission will use a big red bus to offer support and services to fans at every stop during the British and Irish Lions tour.

Onboard the bus parked up at Whangarei's Town Basin, British High Commission spokesman Callum Valentine said it will make rugby tourists feel at home despite being halfway across the world.

"It's a mobile version of the British High Commission. We're taking the office on the road to reach the British nationals who are coming here."

Valentine said there are an expected 30,000 Brits arriving on our shores during the tour, and should anything go awry for them the bus will be there to help.

"We'll be able to facilitate emergency travel documents, things like that, if people happen to lose their passport we will be able to help them out. We'll also be doing some preventative messaging to try and avoid that sort of thing. It's about helping British nationals and providing support for them."