EA Bulletin: 430 England

Following Monday’s announcement that the previously postponed polls in various areas across England will now be going ahead on 7 May 2026, we understand that this unexpected news for some of you will have a significant impact on the planning and preparation for the delivery of polls in the coming weeks and months.

The Electoral Commission released a statement in response to this announcement late on Monday. We have also been working closely with MHCLG and the AEA to understand some of the wider impacts of this decision.

We have reached out to all colleagues who are directly affected by this decision and will continue to offer support and advice as required.  If you have any questions or concerns about this, please do not hesitate to contact your local Commission team via the usual channels including at: [email protected].

In the meantime, our usual suite of guidance is available on our website.

As you will see later in this bulletin, our public awareness campaigns will soon commence. We have been working closely with our advertising agency to ensure that every area where there is an election will have public awareness messaging.

We have published a variety of resources to help local authorities and civil society partners support people to take part in the local elections in England on 7 May. These include resources on registering to vote and voter ID, and what to expect at the polling station.    

Download our resources. 

Voter registration resources  

To complement our paid advertising campaign which is going live on 23 February, we have produced resources you can use to amplify the campaign and promote voter registration. Resources include:  

• posters – ready to print format and commercial format  
• digital assets, including social media, web banners and email signatures  
• template social media posts
• press release  

Voter ID resources  

We have also produced resources to raise awareness of the need for photo ID when voting in person. These are designed to complement our paid campaign, launching on 16 February. They can be used to help voters who are less likely to have an accepted form of ID, and the people who support them, but contain information of relevance to all voters. Resources include:  

• a ‘Guide to Elections’, including information on the voter ID requirement  
• an A5 insert summarising the voter ID requirement
• posters  
• social media graphics and template social copy  
• template press releases  
• information in various languages and accessible formats  

We have also created resources tailored to the needs of people who are registered to vote anonymously, or who might benefit from doing so, such as domestic violence survivors.  

Voter information resources  

We have updated our resources that you can use to share key messages around the local elections in England on 7 May. These include social media graphics and posters which cover:  

• ways to vote  
• when the election is happening  
• finding your polling place  
• getting help at the polling place  
• what to do if you need help to vote  
• who tellers are  
• polling place opening times  
• things to remember if you are voting in person  

Download our resources, and find out more

Download all resources for the May 2026 elections in England. 

If you have any questions about these resources, please contact [email protected].

The Commission's registration team recently undertook a review of party emblems, to ensure that all registered emblems continue to meet our contemporary requirements on text size. As part of this review, affected parties were given the opportunity to submit a substantively identical emblem with larger text to replace any emblem removed. Emblems that met these conditions were registered as like-for-like replacements, outside of our normal assessment process. These emblems now appear on the parties' register entries and in the emblem zip as normal, but note they will not appear in our final decisions log.

The following parties submitted emblems which were registered as like-for-like replacements:

• Alliance for Green Socialism
• Animal Welfare Party (GB & NI)
• Ashford Independent
• Chesterfield And North Derbyshire Independents (CANDI)
• Chislehurst Matters
• Communities United Party
• Derwentside Independents
• Elm Park Residents' Association
• English Democrats
• Harold Wood Hill Park Residents Association
• Independence for Scotland Party
• Independent Oxford Alliance
• Independent Sovereign Democratic Britain
• Life
• National Liberal Party – True Liberalism
• New Open Non-Political Organised Leadership
• Old Windsor Residents Association
• Runnymede Independent Residents' Group
• Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar UK
• The Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship"
• The Walton Society
• Thornaby Independent Association
• Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
• Wickford Independents