Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 14 of the policy paper entitled UK-EU Summit: Common Understanding, published on 19 May 2025, whether young people will be given voting rights in local elections in (a) England and (b) Northern Ireland under the proposed youth experience scheme from an EU Member State (i) that are residing in the UK and (ii) where there is not a bilateral reciprocal agreement between the UK and that EU Member State under the Representation of the People Act 1983.

Prior to the UK’s departure from the EU, in December 2018, the Government wrote to all 27 EU member states signalling willingness to enter into bilateral agreements to ensure continuity of local election voting and candidacy rights for each other's citizens.

EU citizens from countries that have a bilateral agreement with the UK can therefore vote in local elections in England and Northern Ireland (alongside those who have been legally resident in the UK prior to withdrawal from the EU). We have such agreements with Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

These agreements are separate from Youth Mobility Schemes.