Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 includes provisions about the counting of votes at UK Parliamentary elections. The new provisions amend the Representation of the People Act 1983 to create a new duty on (Acting) Returning Officers to take reasonable steps to begin counting the votes on ballot papers as soon as practicable within four hours of the close of poll. The Act also requires those (Acting) Returning Officers who do not start counting by 2am to provide the Commission with a statement setting out the time at which counting did begin, the steps which had been taken to comply with the new duty and the reasons why the counting of votes had not commenced within four hours of the close of poll. We have produced guidance for (Acting) Returning Officers about the new provision in the Act which can be accessed here:
We also provided briefing notes at various stages of the Bill on the amendments which we believed raised significant issues of workability of policy. The absence of comment did not mean that we supported an amendment. These can be accessed below:
- Our briefing note for the House of Commons committee debate on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill held 9 February 2010 (PDF)
- Our briefing note on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill Commons report stage held on 2 March 2010 (PDF)
- Our briefing note for the House of Lords second reading stage of the Constituational Reform and Governance Bill held 24 March 2010 (PDF)
