Representation of the People Bill: Report Stage briefing on amendments to the Commission's powers to gather and share information
Tuesday 1 September 2026
This briefing highlights key considerations and background on recently tabled amendments to the Representation of the People Bill to restrict donations via cryptoassets.
We have issued briefings on several amendments tabled ahead of Report Stage.
Please get in touch if you have questions for the Commission about the content of this briefing, or the Bill in general: [email protected]
Amendments covered in this briefing
- Gov 129, 131: Secretary Angela Rayner MP - would give the Electoral Commission power to require any person outside of an investigation to provide documents, information or explanations relating to the income and expenditure from specific regulated individual or organisation. It would also provide for court enforcement where such documents, information or explanations have not been produced.
- NC5: Zöe Franklin MP - would enable the Electoral Commission to require information before launching a formal investigation
- NC44: Emily Darlington MP - would enable the Commission to require information from a regulated user-to-user service or search service, at any time during any regulated election period.
- Gov NC78: Secretary Angela Rayner MP - would provide for a reciprocal information gateway between the Electoral Commission and certain listed public authorities, expand the category of public authorities to which the gateway applies and impose restrictions on the onward disclosure of personal information provided by a revenue authority.
Gov 129, 131 and New Clauses 5, 44 – Electoral Commission’s powers to require information outside an investigation
The Rycroft Review rightly identified the importance of our ability to deliver our regulatory compliance and enforcement work in real time, to act on suspicious activity and head off the possibility that offences might be committed.
We have called for an extension of our information gathering powers to allow us to compel information, documents and explanations from any entity that we reasonably require for the purposes of carrying out our functions, outside of a formal investigation. This would include information from financial institutions and cryptocurrency platforms, as well as regulated user-to-user services or search services.
We therefore welcome the changes that these new clauses would bring to strengthening our regulatory tools. The proposed court enforcement of these powers will also strengthen their effectiveness.
In its response to the Rycroft Review, Government stated that it accepts Rycroft's recommendation on our information gathering powers ‘in full’. Clause 129, while helpful in permitting us to obtain information from third parties, does not adopt the recommendation in full. Instead, this amendment would retain the current limitation, restricting the power to obtain information relating only to the "income and expenditure".
The Rycroft Review recommended that the powers of the Commission should be extended to allow it to require information from any person or organisation who may hold relevant materials that it reasonably requires for the purposes of carrying out its functions. Other than the necessary link to our functions, it did not recommend any restrictions on the scope of such a power.
Adopting the Rycroft Review recommendation in full, as Government has committed to, would best strengthen our ability to secure compliance with the political finance regime. We remain ready to work with Government to ensure the effective extension of our powers to strengthen our regulatory levers and support the overall robustness of the system.
Gov NC78 – Sharing of information between Electoral Commission and others
Clause 71 of the Bill would create a power for the Commission to disclose information to certain public authorities. However, this would be a one-way power for the purposes of that authority’s functions, and there would be no commensurate power for the Commission to require those same public authorities to disclose information to us, outside of a formal investigation. As the Rycroft Review highlighted, this is an unnecessary inhibition of the regulatory powers of the Commission.
Gov NC78 rightly addresses this issue, and we strongly support this amendment.
This power would establish a clear statutory gateway for us to share and receive relevant information with other relevant public authorities to assist our respective functions in a timely and effective manner. It would strengthen our ability to prevent, detect, and respond to impermissible funding and better protect the system from foreign interference.