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The Bill is making it way relatively rapidly through the House of Commons, potentially because the Labour party stated in its 2024 elected manifesto that it would grant 16-year-olds the right to vote by the next general election. The Bill is currently at the Report Stage, therefore MPs will have the opportunity to consider amendments to the Bill. This stage may potentially take a while as there is no set timeframe before the Bill is passed to the third and final reading in the House of Commons before it is transferred to the House of Lords for their scrutiny.
Whilst the amendment has been proposed by the Labour Party (per their manifesto), other parties in the House of Commons also support lowering the voting age. However, the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party are opposed to this amendment alongside Nigel Farage. These opponents have raised concerns about the impact this will have on the electoral result as younger people tend to vote for left of centre parties compared to older people. However, the 16 and 17 year old population is approximately 1.3 million in England and 48,000 in Northern Ireland compared to the 47 million over 18 year olds currently on the electoral register.
The voting age is already devolved to 16 and 17 year olds in:
It is argued that young people are the future generation and the outcomes of elections has a more lasting impact on their future. Ultimately, young people should get a voice in shaping their future. Alongside this inclusion, the government will also empower and equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to participate in the electoral system.
The registration age would be extended to 14, helping to ensure young people can be fully registered and have the opportunity to vote even if an election falls on or shortly after their 16th birthday. In a broader sense, the government want to provide greater clarity on how it manages electoral data. Firstly, the Bill proposes that the current open register is changed to an opt-in model. Under the current open register, unless you opt-out, the data of electorates are sent to registered political parties, candidates and campaigners. However, with an opt-in model, electorates will have to give their consent to be part of the open register.
The Bill will clarify what data the Electoral Registration Officers can legally access to support the electoral registration processes. Furthermore, the Bill would ensure better sharing of data from government departments and other bodies to Electoral Registration Officers, who would then use this data to support eligible voters who are either not registered or registered incorrectly. It is estimated that as many as 8 million people in the UK are currently unregistered.
The Bill would create the legal authority for pilots to run pilots on the electoral register. The government plan to test whether the electoral register can become automated; if a member updates their address with several local authority services, the register will automatically update their address.
To ensure as many people can vote as possible, the Bill wants to remove barriers to voting via identification by allowing UK-authorised bank cards to prove identity. Research conducted by Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government concluded that UK population without a form of accepted ID would fall from 2-4% to less than 1% if bank cards are included. However, there would be greater security on the use valid digital IDs to ensure photographs or screenshots of ID are not used and that digital IDs can be checked for verification by looking for digital holograms or live clocks.
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 currently regulates permissible individual and corporate donors, however for corporate donors the Bill proposes a strengthen of eligibility; they must have a genuine connection to the UK and have generated revenue in the UK can make political donations. This would apply to all monetary donations and all in-kind donations above £2,230 (such as gifts). Any donations that are made by a impermissible donor (individuals or organisations) will be subject to forfeiture under the Bill to deter any impermissible donations.
Beyond the Bill, the government will create secondary legislation via section 54A of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act that will require individuals who make a contributions of over £11,180 to declare any benefits linked to their donation. Furthermore, the recipient political party would be required to undertake a risk assessment that assesses:
55% of candidates in the 2024 general election felt that they had some kind of problem with harassment, intimidation, or abuse. Therefore, the Bill aims to tackle candidate security by extending offences committed to all electoral staff, to remove the requirement to publish a candidate’s home address and to add a statutory aggravating factor when an offence is motivated by hostility.
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