Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration Communiqué: 14 June 2023
Updated 26 February 2024
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The Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration met on 14 June 2023 by video conference.
The meeting was chaired by Mick Antoniw MS, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, Welsh Government. The other attending ministers were:
From the UK government:
- Baroness Scott of Bybrook OBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Faith and Communities, and Lords Minister for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
- Steve Baker MP, Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
From the Scottish Government:
- George Adam MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business
Minister Antoniw welcomed all ministers to the meeting and outlined major events in elections across the UK and devolved governments in recent months. All Ministers emphasised the importance of collaborative working and keeping dialogue open.
Ministers had a discussion on the May local government elections in England and the introduction of voter identification requirements. Minister Baker also provided an update on the running and outcome of the Northern Ireland elections.
Ministers gave an update on the electoral activity in their area with Ministers Antoniw and Adam providing detail on the outcomes on their respective consultation exercises and future plans. Baroness Scott and Minister Baker updated the group on the next steps for implementation of the Elections Act 2022.
The ongoing roll out of provisions from the Elections Act 2022 was then discussed, and how emerging divergence in rules and processes for different elections across the nations could be managed. A task and finish group has been established between all three governments to examine the risks of divergence. There was general agreement on exploring how to ensure the new online absent voting portal could be extended to devolved elections.
Ministers also discussed what measures were being taken to make elections more accessible to all members of our society, both through legislation and other measures. Ministers reflected on what had been learned from recent UK and Northern Ireland elections and what more could be done in future to ensure the accessibility of our democratic process.
Finally, ministers from all administrations had a discussion on topics of mutual interest to be covered in more detail at the next Interministerial Group, including building democratic health and resilience in the sector.
The next meeting will be chaired by the Scottish Government and will be arranged in due course.