Asked by: Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 24 October (HL Deb col 743), what plans they have to amend the Gov.uk website to reflect the right of individuals from the European Union who have settled or pre-settled status to vote and stand in elections.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Pursuant to the answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 24 October 2024 (HoL Deb col 743), the Government ensures that GOV.UK website pages are kept up to date to accurately reflect any changes to voter registration and voting rights in the UK.
Legislation passed by the previous Government changed the eligibility requirements for EU citizens for certain elections. Those changes took effect on 7 May 2024.
The Register to vote page on GOV.UK, which includes information on the voting rights of individuals from the European Union, was updated on 7 May 2024 to reflect the requirements.
Those pages are regularly reviewed to ensure clarity and accuracy. The Register to vote page has recently been reviewed to improve clarity, and an updated version of the page was published on 4 November 2024.
It is the role of the Electoral Commission to provide guidance to political parties and independent candidates standing in elections. The Electoral Commission updated its online guidance to reflect updated candidacy rights introduced by the Elections Act 2022 for EU citizens in English local elections.