Briefing on Representation of the People Bill: Commons Second Reading

The Representation of the People Bill has the potential to significantly improve the electoral system for voters, parties, campaigners and administrators. Changes to voter registration and political finance rules will bring particular benefits. Lowering the voting age will give around 1.7 million additional people the right to vote. 

These reforms should strengthen the resilience and integrity of our electoral system, tackle many of the threats it faces and improve how elections work for those who participate. 

While we welcome many of the changes set out in the bill, some provisions could be strengthened further to improve the experience for voters and better protect the system from foreign interference.

Automated voter registration systems should be implemented in time for the next general election. We think the timetable for automatic registration will not deliver benefits for voters before the next general election. The successful pilots in Wales last year show this is possible.

We are concerned that using revenue to determine companies’ eligibility to donate to political parties is an inadequate safeguard against foreign money. Using profit would more clearly reflect genuine UK-based activity. The current clauses appear to allow a company to donate its entire revenue to each candidate and party – so many times over each year. 

Public confidence in elections also depends on the system being fair, transparent and independent. For that reason, we remain opposed to the Strategy and Policy Statement introduced by the Elections Act 2022. It will continue to make the case for non-partisan accountability to Parliament.

We will work with the UK Government to support effective implementation of the bill, supporting voters, political parties, campaigners and candidates, and electoral administrators to prepare for and manage the changes. 

Any change to the electoral system should improve the experience for voters, be workable, and improve the system’s security and accessibility. It is a crucial principle that changes to any electoral legislation should be clear at least six months before they are due to be implemented or complied with.

Young voters

Extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds will give around 1.7m additional people the right to vote. It would align the voting age with devolved elections in Scotland and Wales, where 16- and 17-year-olds already have the right to vote. 

Although we don't take a view on the principle of franchise changes, which are significant constitutional questions for Parliament to consider, all those who are eligible to vote in elections should be able to do so freely and without barriers. Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds are the group least likely to be on the electoral register.

Our priority will be to ensure that all newly enfranchised voters know how to register and exercise their right to vote, to have access to educational material through their schools, colleges and communities, and to support the electoral community to deliver franchise changes effectively. 

Research across several countries and states that have lowered their voting ages shows that when enfranchised, 16 and 17-year-olds tend to vote in greater numbers than those enfranchised at 18. 16 and 17-year-olds can already vote in Scottish Parliament elections, Senedd elections, and local elections in Scotland and Wales. 

Extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds increases the importance of equipping young people with the confidence to participate, so that they can continue to do so into the future. Our research shows that most young people support learning more about politics and elections:

• 72% of young people think children and young people should learn more about politics in school/college
• 53% of young people want to learn more about what difference their vote makes

We will build on our democratic education work to improve young people’s understanding of electoral systems, expanding our work to provide teachers and students with resources and support to deliver democratic education.

Automatic or direct registration

Having complete and accurate registers is fundamental to democratic participation – if voters are not correctly registered, they cannot participate. Our research shows that as many as 8 million people across the UK are not correctly registered to vote.

The requirement to submit an application to be registered can be a barrier to some, and we know that some groups of people are less likely to be registered correctly: attainers and other young people, people who live in private rented accommodation, disabled people, and recent home-movers.

The bill includes provisions that would enable automatic or direct registration. When commenced, these would impose a duty on electoral registration officers to register voters without requiring them to submit registration applications. An automated registration process would remove barriers for voters and make it easier to register and vote.

The Government is exploring several options for more automated forms of voter registration. These range from integrated registration – where applications for other services, such as obtaining a passport or driving licence, are used to prompt users to register to vote – to automatic registration, where individuals are added to the register without having to opt in. 

While the final version of automatic registration may take longer, we assess that significant progress can be made on integrated and some automatic registration implementation before the next general election, adding millions to the electoral register accurately, and in particular helping add new 16- and 17-year-old voters to the register. Successful pilots in Wales last year show how effective this can be.

We are urging the Government to work quickly to introduce automated systems to enable voters to be added to UK parliamentary electoral registers, in time for the next general election. This could be built on existing services, such as applying for a passport, updating a driving licence, or receiving a National Insurance Number at 16.

We will independently evaluate automatic or direct registration pilots and continue to provide support and guidance to Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who under these proposals would continue to be responsible for compiling and maintaining the electoral registers throughout the year. 

We also currently run public awareness campaigns to promote voter registration ahead of elections. We will continue to do this, adapting our campaign approach to ensure it reflects the final registration model and accounting for possible divergence across the UK.

Expanding the list of accepted voter ID

The 2024 general election was the first at which voters were required to show photo ID when voting in polling stations, and most people were able to vote successfully. Our research found:

• fewer than 0.1% of people in Great Britain who tried to vote at a polling station were unable to because they could not present an accepted form of ID
• around 4% of people who did not vote said that the requirement to show ID was a factor
• that the requirement to show voter ID affected some people more than others, particularly people from a disadvantaged background.

We recommended that the Government review the list of accepted IDs and the way the voter authority certificate is issued, including whether there could be a later deadline to apply for a digitally-issued VAC. We also recommended that options for voters without accepted ID – such as attestation or ‘vouching’ – be considered. 

The bill proposes expanding the list of ID accepted at polling stations to include bank cards as a non-photo form of ID for elections in Great Britain, to enable a digital voter authority certificate to be provided, and to allow digital versions of ID to be accepted at polling stations. 

We will inform voters of any changes to accepted forms of ID, and continue to communicate when they need to show ID and how they can apply for a voter authority certificate as an alternative. We will support electoral administrators and polling station staff in managing the voter ID verification process.

Bank cards as voter ID

Allowing voters to show bank cards as a form of ID is less secure than the current requirements, where voters need to show photo ID at polling stations. Because bank cards do not include a photo and sometimes do not include a full name, they make it harder for polling station staff to verify a person’s identity. There are communities across the UK where several people with the same name and initial live at the same address.

It will also require staff to have a different way of checking ID because there is no common format, design or validation feature for bank cards, which is the case for other forms of ID.

Digital ID and voter authority certificates

Adding digital ID to vote at a polling station would give voters more flexibility and options for proving their identity. Digital Voter Authority Certificates (voter ID) would also improve access for voters without other forms of ID if local councils issue them closer to polling day.

Company donations

Currently, if a company wants to donate to a UK political party or campaigner, they need to be registered at Companies House and be operating in some way in the UK, not just registered on paper. This could involve selling goods or services, having customers, maintaining an office or staff, or actively trading in the UK. 

This means that currently, companies can make political donations even when they haven’t generated enough money in the UK to fund it. This opens the system to donations funded from activity overseas.

The government has proposed new controls on company donations. There would be a limit on donations from companies, based on their revenue, that applies separately to each recipient. This means a company could donate an amount equal to their revenue to a party and then donate the same amount to each of the party’s MPs, councillors and candidates. This would allow companies to make legitimate donations many times their revenue, with no guarantee of the source of these funds.

To be at all effective, the revenue limit must apply to the total value of all of a company’s political donations in a calendar year, regardless of the number of recipients. This could be achieved through a donor declaration, with minimal administrative burden. We have no evidence that companies will struggle to track the donations they make in a year. 

Limiting donations by companies to the total amount of profit they have made and paid tax on in the UK would provide much stronger protection against foreign interference and greater assurance for voters.

Candidate enforcement regime

Currently, individual police forces and prosecuting authorities are responsible for investigating and enforcing alleged political finance offences by election candidates. Criminal investigations and prosecutions may, in some cases, be disproportionate to the severity of the alleged offences. This can mean that prosecutions are not always taken forward, leading to an enforcement gap. The threat of criminal sanctions also deters people from standing for office or acting as an agent. 

The bill would give responsibility for investigating and enforcing certain political finance offences relating to candidates and local third-party campaigners to us, rather than the police. These offences would be subject to civil sanctions (for example, a fine or an enforcement undertaking) rather than criminal sanctions, which could lead to imprisonment and a criminal record.

Candidate security

There has been a worrying rise in the abuse and intimidation of candidates in recent years. This has a significant impact on individuals and can deter those considering standing, thereby limiting the diversity of candidates and choices for voters. 

At the 2024 general election, we found that over half (55%) of candidates felt they had experienced some harassment, intimidation or abuse. Women were twice as likely, and ethnic minority respondents three times as likely, to report serious abuse. 

The bill proposes adding a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing for certain election-related offences where they are motivated by hostility, and extends disqualification orders to include offences against electoral staff. This reflects the seriousness of these offences and should help deter potential offenders from engaging in abusive behaviour. 

We support candidates, campaigners and parties to understand what constitutes abuse and where to go if they experience it. We are currently considering how a code of conduct for campaigning, as recommended by the Speaker’s Conference, can facilitate a robust but respectful campaigning environment.

We will continue to work closely with partners, including the police, to provide support in tackling allegations of abuse. We will work with the Government to update guidance for police, electoral administrators and candidates on the safety and security of elections.