Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department took to ensure that local authorities communicated with EU citizens on the need to fill in a UC1 or EC6 form in order to participate in the 2019 European elections.

The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentary
elections and put in place all the necessary legislative and funding elements to enable Returning
Officers to make their preparations required for the polls on 23 May

Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are under a statutory duty to ensure people who are eligible
to vote in elections have the opportunity to do so. For the recent European Parliamentary elections
that included making sure relevant citizens of the EU who are resident in the UK and registered to
vote in local elections were made aware they needed to complete a voter registration and
declaration form (commonly referred to as a UC1 or EC6 form) in order to enable them to vote

The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function and encouraged them
to take additional steps to raise awareness of this requirement locally, through social media
channels and other means.

The Electoral Commission supported EROs in the discharge of this function. It issued guidance on
the 4th April which recommended that EROs should identify EU citizens who are on the local
government register and send them a declaration form and supporting information explaining how
they can declare their intent to vote in these elections in the UK should they wish to.

In line with their statutory duty, the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the
administration of the polls later this year.