Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Conclusion 53
2nd Report – Review of the 2024 general election
Published 22 Jul 2025
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Review of the 2024 general election All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
When asked what criteria the Government would use to assess the effect of the voter ID policy on turnout, the Government told us that it had commissioned research from IFF Research. However, this research does not consider the impact of the policy on turnout, which was the question put to the Government. Neither does the IFF Research study consider the effect the policy has had on different demographic groups. Evidence from the Electoral Commission, and other independent studies of the policy’s impact, suggests that certain groups have been more affected that others. The exclusion of this from the Government sponsored research is all the more concerning given that it was explicitly raised as a concern by our predecessor committee. (Conclusion, Paragraph 147)
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, 2nd Report – Review of the 2024 general election (HC 487), 22 July 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 October 2025 (deadline 22 September 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government's response supports some of the Committee's principles and agrees with some recommendations, but declines or does not consider necessary several others, citing the independence of Returning Officers, cost and the priority of manifesto commitments.
- On consolidating electoral law, the Government says major reform "would require careful consideration and an extensive amount of time" and "would be the job of more than one Parliament", and says it is focused on its manifesto agenda.
- On voter ID, it agrees with the recommendation on digital IDs and intends to create a digital VAC, and will amend legislation to permit UK-issued bank cards as accepted voter identification in Great Britain.
- On postal voting, it considers printing ballot packs on a rolling basis "impractical", and says first-class postage for poll cards would cost about £52 million for a UK Parliamentary election, which it would not consider "a viable option" at this time.
- On the Electoral Commission, the Government has "no plans to establish an independent review" of its powers, but intends reforms including raising its maximum fine to £500,000 and extending its civil sanctioning powers to political finance offences by candidates, local third parties and recall petition campaigners.