The Coalition Government's Programme of Change - 2010 to 2015

Ministerial responsibility for law and policy on the conduct of elections now lies with The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council (with special responsibility for political and constitutional reform), and Mark Harper MP, Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform.

1. Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill & Referendum on the Alternative Vote

The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. The Act provided for a referendum on 5 May 2011 on whether to adopt the “alternative vote” system instead of the current “first past the post” system for Westminster parliamentary elections. It also provides for a review of the current constituency boundaries to equalise the size of constituencies and reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

Under the rules to equalise boundary sizes a UK electoral quota will be established based on the electoral register. Each constituency would be required to be within 5% either side of the quota. There are two exceptions to the quota; the Scottish Island constituencies of Na-h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles) and Orkney and Shetland.

If a simple majority of voters in the referendum vote to change to the “alternative vote” system the provisions to effect this change will be brought into force on the same day as the boundary changes to constituencies. The boundary review is to be completed by October 2013 in time to make changes for the 2015 general election.

Update

The national Referendum was held on 5th May - click here for the result locally.

The review of Parliamentary Constituency boundaries commenced in Autumn 2011 and full details appear on our "latest election news" page.

2. The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2012

The Act provides that Parliamentary general elections are to occur every five years on the first Thursday in May with the next election occurring on 7th May 2015. General elections are only to be held earlier than this if either two-thirds of all MPs vote in favour of dissolution or there has been a vote of no confidence in the Government and an alternative Government has failed to gain the confidence of the House of Commons within 14 days.

The Act also provides for:

· The automatic dissolution of Parliament in advance of scheduled general elections;

· The abolition of the Queen’s prerogative power to dissolve Parliament;

· Power for the date of the poll for a scheduled General Election to be moved by two months either before or after the scheduled date of poll by the Prime Minister by affirmative Order approved by both Houses.

The Act will not alter the arrangements for a vote of no confidence in the Government, which will continue to be passed with a simple majority. Such a vote will trigger a period of 14 days and if an alternative Government is unable to secure the confidence of the House of Commons during this time, the Prime Minister will recommend a day to the Queen for a general election to occur and Parliament will be dissolved.

Below is a link to the Act:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/contents/enacted

3. Individual Electoral Registration

The Coalition Agreement published in May 2010 committed to speeding up the implementation of individual electoral registration, to tackle electoral fraud. The Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, Mark Harper MP, made a statement to the House of Commons on 15 September 2010, which set out the Government’s plans to bring individual registration into force in 2014, during the lifetime of this Parliament. There will be no ‘voluntary phase’ of collecting electors’ personal identifiers prior to this.

Below is a link to the Hansard record of the oral statement:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100915/debtext/100915-0001.htm#10091526000006

This will mean that during the 2014 annual canvass all existing registered electors and others who may be eligible to vote, will be invited to register individually and provide personal identifiers (signature, date of birth and National Insurance number) that will be used to authenticate their identity before they are added to the register. Electors will be given time to get used to the new provisions: anyone who is already on the register, but does not register individually or who fails to adequately provide their identifiers in 2014 will be carried forward until after the General Election and only removed from the register if, on conclusion of the 2015 canvass they have failed to individually register. This should help maintain registration levels through the transition. However it will be a requirement for any new registrations or any person seeking an absent vote to be registered individually from 2014 onwards.

The Government also intends to take the opportunity of introducing individual registration to tackle problems of under-registration. In his statement to the Commons on September 15^th, Mark Harper announced that we will be trialling data matching – allowing electoral registers to be compared to other public databases to identify people missing from the register - over the course of 2011.

To view the Government White Paper on this change - click under links below. The White Paper is now a Bill and you can view the Bill under the latest update below.

Links

Individual Electoral Registration White Paper (1.2MB)

Update - February 2013

The Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 received Royal Assent on 31 January 2013, and

provides for the introduction of individual electoral registration (IER) in Great Britain, together with a number of important provisions about the conduct of elections.

Under the new registration system:

Electors will register individually rather than through heads of household. An individual must provide personal information including their National Insurance number to verify their application.
Data matching will be used to verify applications and during the transition phase will be used to confirm existing entries in registers. The primary data base will be that of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) but others may be considered.
A modernised electoral registration system based on IT will be introduced, making it easier for people to register to vote, and open up the way for digital applications, principally by using the local authority website
Once registered, individuals will need only to confirm annually that their details have not changed
The annual household canvas will continue to check register is complete. Individuals not on the register will themselves be responsible for applying to register.
There will be a civil penalty for failing to register (with stringent requirements in place before a penalty can be issued). The criminal penalty for failing to return the household canvas remains.
From 2014 IER will be a requirement for any new registrations and for anyone who wants to vote by post or proxy.
Parliament accepted an amendment to the Electoral Registration and Administration Act which changes the law to allow electors waiting or in a queue at a polling station at 10pm to be issued with a ballot paper.
After 1 December 2015 everyone on the electoral register will be registered under the new system.

4. Absent Vote Refresh

Anyone who has had a postal, proxy or postal proxy vote since since January 2007 - which will shortly be over 5 years old - will be sent another form for us to legally request your latest signature.

Please look out for a new form being sent to your address in January 2013. Please make sure you sign and return it ASAP as we legally have to send a reminder 3 weeks later and this costs us more money.

If you do not return the new form your existing absent vote facility will be cancelled and you will have to vote in person.

2012 was the first year of this new process and over 2,500 refresh notices were sent out in the period January to March 2012 and we received 93% of these back.

The same process has to take place each year.