Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration Communiqué: 25 January 2023
Updated 26 February 2024
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The meeting was chaired by Lee Rowley MP, Minister for Local Government, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, UK government.
The other attending ministers were:
- From the Scottish Government: George Adam MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business
- From the Welsh Government: Mick Antoniw MS, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution
- From the UK government: Steve Baker MP, Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office
Minister Rowley provided an update on the UK government’s progress to implement the Elections Act 2022, noting that the necessary secondary legislation had been made for the voter identification and accessibility changes to be in place before the local elections in England in May. Minister Rowley focused in more detail on the work ongoing to deliver voter identification, including providing an update on the launch of the application service for Voter Authority Certificates and an overview of the Electoral Commission’s national public awareness campaign. All attending ministers agreed on the importance of clarity of messages for voters in the different nations.
Minister Rowley then updated that further measures from the Elections Act will be brought in after May 2023. Minister Adam and Minister Antoniw both noted the progress being made to introduce the new online service for absent vote applications for reserved polls, with both Ministers having requested they be able to access the system for devolved elections. Ministers from all administrations committed to continue to work together with regards managing divergence arising from changes to electoral law for reserved and devolved polls.
Minister Adam updated the Group on the Scottish Government’s consultation on electoral reform, which launched in December and runs until March. The consultation covers a number of broad themes and has already received a significant number of responses. Ministers from the UK government and Welsh Government all expressed interest in the outcomes of the consultation.
Minister Antoniw provided an update on the Welsh Government’s consultation on the modernisation of the electoral system in Wales, which concluded with around 200 submissions. He noted the significant interest in accessibility and Ministers discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by all administrations to improve the accessibility of elections for disabled people.
Ministers from all administrations had a discussion on topics of mutual interest to be covered in more detail at the next Interministerial Group. The meeting concluded following an update from Minister Baker on the decision taken to postpone the local council elections in Northern Ireland by two weeks to avoid any interference with the coronation.
The next meeting will be chaired by the Welsh Government and will be arranged in due course.