2nd Special Report - Review of the 2024 general election: Government and the Electoral Commission responses

This is the government's response, published 16 October 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.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error