The Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission was established in 2001 under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It is the independent body which oversees the delivery of elections and referendums and regulates most aspects of UK political finance.

What does the Electoral Commission do?

During elections, the Electoral Commission provides guidance and advice to returning officers (those responsible for the conduct of elections in each constituency) to help the smooth running of elections. Unlike other countries, it does not itself run polling stations, administer the count, or announce results, though this fact does not concern international experts and observers.

The commission also runs public education campaigns and provides advice to political parties, candidates, and electoral administrators. It publishes information about donations and election spending on the online political finance database.

In contrast to elections, the Electoral Commission is in charge of administering and running referendums. It appoints a lead campaigner for the “yes” and “no” sides and designs the ballot paper question. As with elections, it runs public education campaigns, provides advice to those involved in the referendum and publishes details of donations and spending.

In its role as regulator, the commission maintains a register of political parties, non-party campaigners and other regulated entities (such as unincorporated associations). It also has powers to both investigate and sanction if political finance laws are broken.

How has the commission changed since 2001?

There have been several changes made to the functions of the commission, often to close loopholes (as in the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009), adapt how it oversees elections (as in the Electoral Administration Act 2006), or address developments in campaign practice (as in the Elections Act 2022).

The most notable recent changes were made by the Elections Act 2022, which allows the government to lay a ‘strategy and policy statement’ to which the commission “must have regard”. The first such statement was designated in February 2024.

The reason forwarded for this change was that some members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords had lost confidence in the commission and the Conservative government wanted to improve its accountability arrangements.

However, others have argued that the 2022 act reduces the commission’s operational independence. When the first strategy and policy statement was laid in 2024, the House of Lords passed a “regret motion” alongside the statement itself. The regret motion formally registered the House’s concerns about the statement, but it did not prevent the government from proceeding with it.

How has the commission’s success been measured?

The commission’s own research from 2024 shows that the UK public has faith in the management of elections – in particular, the voting process and the way they are run. However, there remains a high degree of public concern about disinformation and financial transparency.

However, external reviews (such as the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s Regulating Election Finance Report) and parliamentary inquiries (such as the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s Work of the Electoral Commission) have highlighted areas where they are less confident in the commission. These relate to a perceived institutional bias, a lack of understanding of the realities of campaigning, and the timeliness and clarity of guidance.