Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration Communique: 30 June 2025
Published 4 August 2025
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The Inter-ministerial Group for Elections and Registration met on 30 June 2025, in hybrid format.
The meeting was chaired and hosted by Jayne Bryant MS, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Welsh Government. The other attending Ministers were:
From the UK Government:
- Rushanara Ali MP, Minister for Homelessness and Democracy, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (in person)
- Fleur Anderson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (online).
From the Scottish Government:
- Jamie Hepburn MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business (in person).
Cabinet Secretary Bryant welcomed all Ministers to the meeting and noted this was the first meeting in some time that members had been able to attend in-person. All Ministers agreed that it was positive to meet in-person where possible and that the IMG was an important forum for continued cross-government working.
Ministers gave an update on the electoral activity in their area. Minister Hepburn provided an update on the Scottish Government’s electoral activities, highlighting the work underway in advance of elections next year.
Cabinet Secretary Bryant gave an update on the Welsh Government’s electoral activities, noting recent collaborative working on auto-registration pilots with stakeholders and recent establishment of the Electoral Management Board.
Minister Ali then provided an update on work to implement the UK Government’s manifesto and other commitments for electoral reform, with a strategy document being published shortly. Minister Ali thanked Ministers for the cross-government working on these proposals and all Ministers committed to continuing to discuss these matters as the work develops.
Minister Anderson updated on Northern Ireland’s electoral activities, highlighting the work on extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds within the Northern Ireland context.
Ministers noted the recent work on Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Private Members’ Bill, highlighting the positive collaboration in implementing it as quickly and efficiently as possible. It was acknowledged that timescales were demanding for the Online Absent Voting Application to be available to voters in Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections. The governments would continue to work together to ensure access.
Ministers also discussed the security of elections, including reflecting on learning from recent UK and English local elections, and what more could be done to ensure the security of democratic processes.
Ministers also reflected on work to promote democratic engagement, having held a roundtable with some recipients of the Welsh Government’s Democratic Engagement Grant immediately prior to the Inter-Ministerial Group meeting. The organisations that attended the roundtable were Cardiff Council, ElectHer, The Politics Project, Scouts Cymru and Swansea MAD.
Finally, Cabinet Secretary Bryant thanked Ministers from all administrations and noted the next Interministerial Group. Minister Hepburn extended an invitation to host the next IMG in-person.
The next meeting will be chaired by the Scottish Government and will be arranged in due course.