Research and analysis

Electoral Integrity Programme: European Union voting and candidacy rights (EUVCR) executive summary

Published 14 July 2026

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Policy background

The previous government pursued a policy of changing the voting and candidacy rights of European Union (EU) citizens following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU. These changes were applied to local elections in England and Northern Ireland, elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections in England and Wales.

UK Parliamentary elections were not affected as EU citizens have never been able to vote in those elections. Scottish Parliamentary elections, Senedd elections and local elections in Scotland and Wales were not affected as responsibility for those elections is devolved.

Previously, all EU citizens who were otherwise eligible (i.e. who also satisfied age and residence criteria) could participate in these elections. The changes introduced by the previous government ensured that EU citizens who have been continuously resident in the UK since 31 December 2020 (the end of the EU Exit implementation period) would maintain existing voting rights.

Individuals who had not been continuously a resident in the UK since that date may only be able to participate in the elections if they are citizens of countries where the UK holds a bilateral voting rights treaty. These countries are Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain. It should also be noted that citizens of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus were not affected by these changes. Irish citizens have voting rights in UK elections separately to their status as EU citizens, and Maltese and Cypriot citizens have voting rights in the UK on the basis of Malta and Cyprus’ membership of the Commonwealth.

In order to implement these changes, it was necessary to conduct a process of Eligibility Confirmation and Review of those EU citizens who were already on the electoral register, to ensure they were still eligible to be registered to vote under the new rules for EU citizens.

The regulations came into effect on 7 May 2024, with Electoral Registration Officers required to complete the Eligibility Confirmation and Review by the 31 January 2025.

Evaluation approach

This evaluation was conducted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). A theory-based approach to conduct a process and impact evaluation of the European Union Voting and Candidacy Rights (EUVCR) policy was chosen. A Theory of Change was created to express how the policy would lead to change, and what the potential impacts may be in the short-, medium- and long-term. 

Following this, three contribution claims were developed, which reflect the objectives of the policy and the long-term changes it aims to achieve. These claims were then assessed against the available evidence relating to the policy. This evidence included a survey conducted with Electoral Registration Officers in England and Wales plus the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, monitoring data from MHCLG digital election services and data collected by the Electoral Commission on the eligibility confirmation and review process.

This approach mirrors that used in the year 1 and year 2 Electoral Integrity Programme evaluation reports conducted by IFF research.

Overall findings

Table 1.1 below summarises the outcomes and conclusions of the three contribution claims. It should be noted that claims 2 and 3 were rated as partially met due to a lack of evidence in key areas rather than due to any evidence suggesting the claims have not been met.

Table 1.1: Summary of claim outcomes

Claim Title	Claim Outcome	Claim Conclusion
Claim 1: Local authority staff in electoral service teams, Electoral Registration Officers and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland meet the requirements of law.	Claim met	There is sufficient evidence to indicate that local authorities, Electoral Registration Officers and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland met their requirements in line with the law.
Claim 2: Eligible EU citizens are able to register for, vote in, and stand as candidates in local and PCC elections and are not deterred from doing so.	Claim partially met	There is strong evidence that eligible EU electors remain able to register to vote. However, there is inconclusive or no evidence around whether they are able to vote or stand in elections and are not deterred from doing so.
Claim 3: The franchise reflects the UK’s new relationship with the EU.	Claim partially met	There is evidence that the franchise has been reviewed in line with the objectives of the policy and that ineligible EU electors are deterred from attempting to register to vote. However, there is no evidence on whether ineligible EU electors are deterred from voting or standing in elections.

The main findings of the evaluation are that the policy was delivered by local authorities effectively and they met the requirements of the law relating to the policy. However, implementation of the policy was hampered in some cases by issues experienced in the electoral management software systems and the underlying data that supported the processing and reporting.

The evidence suggests that eligible EU electors remain able to register to vote, while ineligible EU citizens are deterred from attempting to register to vote. While the evidence on eligible electors remaining able to vote is inconclusive (due to a small sample size), there is currently no evidence to assess whether eligible electors are deterred from standing as candidates.

There is also evidence that EU citizens in Wales who, due to these changes, are now ineligible to vote in PCC elections, nonetheless remain able to register to vote for devolved elections, which they remain eligible to vote in.

Electoral Commission data suggests that the number of registered EU electors fell by 200,000 following the eligibility confirmation and review, adjusting the franchise in line with the objectives of the policy.

However, concerns were raised by some Electoral Registration Officers that there was no way to verify the information provided by electors during the review.