Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she if taking with her international counterparts in response to the military regime’s elections in Myanmar.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the statement issued by the Foreign Secretary on the fifth anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-statement-on-the-fifth-anniversary-of-the-military-coup-in-myanmar) and the answers provided in the House of Lords in February in response to the similar set of Questions HL13818-20, HL13821, and HL13859.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 8777, on Local Government: Elections, whether local authorities which submitted bids to hold a May 2026 election pilot scheme subsequently submitted a request to the Department to cancel their May 2026 elections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England.
A number of local authorities expressed interest in participating, and we are currently engaging with those local authorities. A small number of authorities that submitted applications subsequently made requests to postpone their May 2026 elections.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what governance arrangements are in place for strategic authorities that are formed before the election of mayors to those authorities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Subject to constituent authorities’ consent, we will establish the Mayoral Strategic Authorities in the six Devolution Priority Programme areas as soon as possible, to ensure sufficient time for preparatory work ahead of the Mayor taking office and allowing areas to build local collaboration.
The governance of these new Mayoral Strategic Authorities will be specified in the establishing Statutory Instruments. We laid the establishing Statutory Instruments for Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington on 18 December 2025,
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their latest assessment is of the political situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Government remains deeply concerned about the evolving situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. We speak to all parties on a regular basis, and we continue to support efforts to implement the African Union-led Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, including through funding for monitoring and compliance mechanisms, and the safe, voluntary and dignified returns of Internally Displaced Peoples.
However, implementation of that agreement remains slow, and preparations for the national elections scheduled for 1 June have been hampered by disagreements over security assessments and the registration status of the Tigray People's Liberation Front. In the last week of January, clashes between Tigrayan Forces and the Ethiopian National Defence Forces occurred in the disputed areas of Western and Southern Tigray. While these appear to have subsided, they contribute to a highly fragile and unpredictable security environment.
The Foreign Secretary raised these issues with the Government of Ethiopia during her recent visit to Addis Ababa.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials had meetings with (i) the Venice Commission and (ii) the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on (A) elections and (B) democracy since July 2024.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG ministers and officials have not held any meetings with either the Venice Commission or the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on elections or democracy since July 2024.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities will have discretion following the implementation of electoral boundary changes to determine whether elections are held by thirds, halves, or all-out elections without further primary or secondary legislation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The legislation governing councils’ power to choose its own scheme of elections is set out in Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. The legislation permits non-metropolitan district councils to choose to move to electing by thirds or halves where they have previously held elections by thirds or halves.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish an equality impact assessment on the postponement of local elections in 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
An equality impact assessment has been completed in line with normal practice.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of postponing the 2026 local elections on the progress of Thurrock council's local plan.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government followed a locally-led process and based his decisions on a careful consideration of the representations made from councils with elections scheduled in May and from other councils, interested organisations, Members of Parliament, and members of the public. The government expects local planning authorities to work towards the adoption of an up-to-date local plan as soon as possible. Local government reorganisation should not hinder this essential work.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of postponing the 2026 local elections on the progress of Basildon council's local plan.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government followed a locally-led process and based his decisions on a careful consideration of the representations made from councils with elections scheduled in May and from other councils, interested organisations, Members of Parliament, and members of the public. The government expects local planning authorities to work towards the adoption of an up-to-date local plan as soon as possible. Local government reorganisation should not hinder this essential work.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a) making HMRC taxpayer data available to Electoral Registration Officers for the purposes of Automatic Voter Registration, and b) allowing people who update their address with HMRC to update their voter registration automatically at the same time.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The taxpayer information HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) holds is subject to a strict statutory duty of confidentiality. HMRC will share taxpayer information however, where there is a lawful basis to do so and to support wider government objectives. In July 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“MHCLG”) published its strategy for modern and secure elections with a focus on the effective and safe sharing of data to improve voter registration. HMRC has been working in collaboration with officials from MHCLG to identify data-enabled opportunities to support their objective of improving voter registration.