Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will undertake a review of the (a) reasons and (b) extent of increases in postal and proxy vote applications in constituencies in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) England in advance of any changes required to the system for such applications for the next General Election.

The Government will continue to keep electoral legislation, for all non-devolved polls, under review and consider what changes, if any, may be required before the next General Election.

The Government has no plans to undertake such a review. Relevant to postal and proxy working more generally, the Government responded to the Review in December 2016, addressing each of the concerns raised in turn, setting out a number of measures for tackling the risk of fraud. The Government is considering the way forward on the recommendations made by Sir Eric Pickles, a number of which relate to absent voting, and will continue to consider how to improve the integrity of electoral processes more generally.

Changes to electoral law in Northern Ireland are a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.