Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Conclusion 68
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)
We believe the Electoral Commission carries out a vital role as an independent regulator in the elections sphere, providing vital guidance and support to electoral administrators, political parties, individual candidates and the wider public. However, it is a regulator without sufficient teeth. Approbatory assessments and warnings are not sufficient. We call for the Government to establish an independent review of the Electoral Commission’s powers, to be carried out with a view to giving it the powers necessary to rigorously and proactively ensure that elections are carried out in a fair, impartial, and truthful environment. As a start, while we do not believe the prosecutorial power removed by the Elections Act 2022 should be restored, we do think the Electoral Commission should have the power to refer cases directly to the Crown Prosecution Service. As part of this review, it should be considered whether the Electoral Commission should have the power to bar a candidate from standing. This review should also consider whether other bodies are better placed to act or work in conjunction with the Commission, and if the powers of these bodies should also be strengthened. (Conclusion, Paragraph 175)
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.