Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Paragraph: 16
We welcome the Government’s recent update that it is taking a staged approach to implementing...
Recommendation
We welcome the Government’s recent update that it is taking a staged approach to implementing the Elections Act 2022, which will support the electoral community in preparing to implement the necessary changes. While there is now limited time for the statutory instruments for voter ID to come into force and for the Electoral Commission to finalise its guidance ahead of elections in May 2023, the Committee is somewhat reassured by the Government’s assertion that it has shared draft legislation with the Electoral Commission to support them in drafting the relevant guidance and that it expects the statutory instruments to come into force by mid-January 2023. Ahead of this date, the Committee expects to see the draft statutory instrument in order for our comments to be taken into consideration alongside other scrutiny committees. The Committee also recognises that the decision to prioritise voter ID implementation inevitably means that the timetable for implementing other measures under the 2022 Act will be compressed throughout 2023–24. Accordingly, the Government must, as a matter of priority, provide clarity on its timetable for the implementation of the remainder of the secondary legislation envisaged under the Act, so that the Electoral Commission can provide the necessary support and guidance to the electoral community and voters in advance of upcoming elections. Furthermore, in the interests of supporting the Electoral Commission’s UK-wide role, we reiterate our call, set out in our Fifth Report of Session 2021–22 on the Elections Bill, for the four governments The Work of the Electoral Commission 39 of the United Kingdom to develop a more coordinated approach to electoral policy and law, which will, in turn, further reduce the complexity of the system. The UK Government should lead this work.
Government Response Summary
The Government laid the draft Voter Identification Regulations before Parliament and affirmed them. The Political Finance and Notional Expenditure statutory instruments are now in force, with the Accessibility statutory instruments due to come into force on 29th December. Timeline and plan has been shared with the Electoral Commission.
Paragraph Reference:
16
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government laid the draft Voter Identification Regulations before Parliament on 1st November 2022. The Regulations have, as required, been the subject of statutory consultation with the Electoral Commission and the content discussed with a wide range of partners in the electoral sector throughout its development. We are grateful to all those experts who gave their time to this work. The Voter Identification Regulations have since been affirmed by both Houses and are on track to be in force for mid-January. In addition, the Political Finance and Notional Expenditure statutory instruments are now in force, with the Accessibility statutory instruments due to come into force on 29th December. The Elections Act confers multiple new activities for the electoral sector, in addition to business-as-usual activities. Many of these changes will be complex to implement, and so in order to ensure the sector can absorb these changes, the intention has always been to implement these measures over a sequenced and pragmatic timetable. As previously described a further tranche of measures, including those extending the franchise for overseas electors, enabling online applications for absent voting and reforming the rules on postal and proxy votes will be brought into force from Summer 2023, with further measures to follow in the autumn in good time for the scheduled polls in May 2024.2 Our detailed programme timeline and plan has been shared with the Electoral Commission to support their own delivery plans for associated guidance and communications, and officials will continue to coordinate with the Commission throughout implementation. 2 Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Policy Paper – ‘Overseas electors: Delivering ‘votes for life’ for British expatriates’, 3 February 2022 (last accessed 9 January 2023) The Government notes that the electoral landscape will become more diverse as a result of many factors, including current and planned changes in the devolved administrations and the changes from the Elections Act. This is a natural consequence of devolution. We are actively working with devolved counterparts including through the Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration, to manage issues that arise from this divergence and are committed to finding solutions that reduce both burdens on administrators and any potential electoral confusion that might arise.