Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Recommendation 21

Fifth Report - The Elections Bill Published 13 Dec 2021 Paragraph 101

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee The Elections Bill All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Recommendation (the committee's words)

The Committee appreciates that the Government has included a wide range of forms of identification in its list of acceptable identification in the Bill. The purpose of the Government’s proposals to introduce a voter ID requirement are to ensure that the person who turns up at the polling station is the named person on the electoral register. To meet this requirement, all that is needed is an ID that has the person’s name and their photograph. We recommend that any ID issued by a public authority, educational institutions, approved schemes such as PASS ID or a transport providers should be accepted as proof of identification for the purposes of voting at a polling station. To ensure clarity for administrators, the Government should produce a standardised design/guides for public bodies, educational institutions and transport providers to follow on issuing ID such as the inclusion of a PASS ID hologram.

From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Fifth Report - The Elections Bill (HC 597), paragraph 101, 13 December 2021

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 10 February 2022 (deadline 13 February 2022).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government accepts some of the Committee's recommendations in part, for example agreeing "in principle" that electoral law would benefit from consolidation, but disagrees with others, including removing the Electoral Commission clauses, and does not accept that there was a lack of pre-legislative consultation and scrutiny.

On consolidating electoral law, the government "agrees in principle" that it would benefit, but calls it "a long-term project" and "not something to rush", with its immediate priority being its manifesto pledges.
On post-legislative scrutiny, it says an amendment is not necessary as scrutiny after Royal Assent is "standard practice", and a statutory requirement "risks not allowing for the necessary flexibility".
On the Electoral Commission, the government says it "disagrees" with the recommendation to remove the relevant clauses, and does not consider the effect of the duty to "have regard" to the Statement needs clarifying on the face of the Bill.
On voter ID, it does not pause the policy, citing its Equality Impact Assessment and a 2021 survey finding 98% held accepted photographic identification, and says it will "carry out thorough research" on implementation.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error