Policy paper

Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration Communiqué: 23 January 2024

Updated 26 February 2024

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

The Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration met on 23 January 2024 by video conference.

The meeting was chaired by George Adam MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business, Scottish Government. The other attending ministers were:

From the UK Government:

• Simon Hoare MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
• Steve Baker MP, Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office

From the Welsh Government:

• Mick Antoniw MS, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution

Minister Adam welcomed all ministers to the meeting and noted that the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill had been introduced to the Scottish Parliament earlier that day. Minister Adam reflected on the consultation exercise undertaken on the Bill, noting the measures that are and are not included in the Bill as a result of the consultation.

Minister Adam also noted the Scottish Government’s continuing work on improving the accessibility of elections. The Electoral Management Board for Scotland and the Electoral Commission had held a session for Returning Officers in Dundee on 6 October 2023, looking at arrangements for the UK Parliamentary General Election.

Minister Hoare, attending his first IMG since his appointment, noted that he looked forward to working with ministerial colleagues on elections. He identified the challenges facing all administrations on public attitudes to elections and the importance of promoting resilience and public confidence in elections.

Minister Hoare provided an update on the implementation of the Elections Act 2022, with the changes for overseas electors having taken effect on 16 January 2024.

Assurance was also provided by Minister Hoare that the UK Government was continuing to consider how access could be arranged for online absent vote applications for Scottish and Welsh local government elections and Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru elections. A discussion ensued about the potential for voters to become confused now that different arrangements exist for different types of elections in Scotland and Wales. All ministers undertook that officials would continue to collaborate on the matter.

Minister Antoniw highlighted two Bills recently introduced to the Senedd: the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill, introduced on 18 September 2023, which seeks to increase the size of the Senedd and to decrease the length of time between Senedd ordinary general elections from 5 to 4 years; and the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill, introduced on 2 October 2023, which seeks to create a statutory Electoral Management Board and adopt Elections Act 2022 measures on undue influence, accessibility and campaign finance.

Minister Antoniw introduced a discussion on the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register, with all 4 ministers expressing views on registration and automatic registration, and a brief discussion was had on the ‘open’ electoral register, which the Welsh Government was looking at discontinuing in relation to Senedd Cymru and Welsh local elections.

Minister Baker outlined that Northern Ireland had aligned with the Elections Act 2022 changes made in relation to reserved elections in Great Britain, other than with regards to online absent vote applications. The duty to call a Northern Ireland Assembly election would be deferred.

Ministers briefly discussed topics for more in-depth discussion at future meetings, with agreement on the merit of further exploration of democratic health, security, and the resilience of print suppliers (of election materials) at a future IMG meeting.

Minister Adam thanked those present and closed the meeting.

The next meeting will be chaired by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and will be arranged in due course.