Voter ID

The UK Government plans to introduce requirements for voters in UK Parliamentary elections to show ID before being issued with a ballot paper. This briefing looks at the background to voter ID and the pilot schemes held in 2018 and 2019.

Voter ID

  • Research Briefing

    Coronavirus: Elections

    Coronavirus has had significant impact on elections in the UK. This briefing explains how the elections due in 2020 were postponed. It also examines the impact of the pandemic on preparations for the 2021 English local elections and devolved elections, including the measures put in place in England, Scotland and Wales, to allow the elections to go ahead.

  • Research Briefing

    Who can vote in UK elections?

    This paper sets out who can vote in UK elections. It provides information on the UK Parliamentary franchise and the different local government franchises in different parts of the UK.

  • Research Briefing

    Recall elections

    Recall is used to describe a process where the electorate in an area can trigger a special election to remove an elected representative before the end of their term. A recall procedure was introduced in the UK in 2015. It only applies to Members of Parliament.

  • Research Briefing

    Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011

    The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 creates a five year period between general elections. Early elections may only be held in specified circumstances. A joint committee undertaken a statutory review of the Act and pre-legislative scrutiny of Government proposals to repeal the Act.

  • Research Briefing

    The Budget and the annual Finance Bill

    This paper discusses the way that Parliament scrutinises the Government's proposals for taxation, set out in the annual Budget statement. It looks at how this procedure may be affected by the timing of a General Election, and the decision in 2017 to move the Budget from the Spring to the Autumn. It also provides some suggestions for further reading.

  • Research Briefing

    Overseas voters

    British citizens living overseas are currently entitled to be registered to vote in UK Parliamentary elections for up to 15 years in the constituency they were registered in before leaving the UK. The Government has committed to end the 15-year limit and introduce 'votes for life'. This Briefing Paper provides details of the provisions relating to overseas voters in the Representation of the People Act 1985 and the proposals for change. It also summarises earlier attempts to change the 15 year rule.

  • Research Briefing

    Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?

    This Commons Library Briefing Paper provides information about which groups in the UK are considered to be politically disengaged, and why. This paper will use the term ‘political disengagement’ to capture certain behaviours and attitudes towards the political system. It uses a range of different sources, which are referenced in the PDF.

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