Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing provisions in local government electoral legislation that prevents people standing those elections that have legitimate reasons for not disclosing a home address on the nomination form.

The legislative requirement for candidates standing in local elections in Northern Ireland to disclose their home address on their nomination form has been in place for many years. It is too late to change this in time for the elections on 2 May 2019, but I am happy to confirm the Government agrees it must change to prevent a recurrence in future local elections.