The Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023

UK Statutory Instrument 2023 No. 1176 — creates 2 criminal offences.

Made

30 October 2023

In force from

Not determined

Extent

Not stated

Subject

Elections and representation of the people

Made under

Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, Representation of the People Act 1983, Schedule 2 to, the Representation of the People Act 1983

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations make provision related to the change in franchise for citizens of the European Union for local government elections in Northern Ireland. Part 2 provides, at Chapter 2, a process for the review of the entitlement of citizens of member States of the European Union to remain registered on the register of local electors in Northern Ireland following the change in registration criteria in section 4 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2). Part 3 provides for a revised date by which the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland must publish under section 13 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 revised versions of the Officer’s electoral registers for 2024. Part 4 makes amendments to the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1741) regarding the content of applications for registration on the register of local electors in Northern Ireland, and the marking of certain entries in registers to indicate that an EU citizen is registered only in the register of local electors. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument, and the corresponding instrument for local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England, will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities at 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF and published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Offences created by this instrument

• Procedure for reviewing entitlement to registration – correspondence-based review regulation 7(3) · Status not determined · Strict liability
• Procedure for reviewing entitlement to registration – correspondence-based review regulation 7(3)(e) · Status not determined · Strict liability

What Parliament said about it

Contributions, debates and written statements mentioning this instrument by name. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

• Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) Regulations 2023 Lords · Lords Chamber · 18 October 2023 · Lord Mott (Con)

  My Lords, in moving the Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) Regulations 2023 I will speak also to the Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023. This Government are committed to protecting the integrity of our democratic processes and we have delivered on that commitment. Last year, Parliament passed the Elections Act, which includes changes to ensure that UK elections remain secure, fair and modern. Today, I am delighted to bring forward two statutory instruments which flow from that…

• Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023 Lords · Lords Chamber · 18 October 2023
• Draft Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023 Commons · General Committees · 24 October 2023 · The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr Steve Baker)

  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Representation of the people (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023. I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Robert. I am most grateful to members of the Committee for being here. This Government are committed to protecting the integrity of our democratic process, and we have delivered on that commitment. Last year, Parliament passed the Elections Act 2022, which includes changes to ensure that UK elections remain secure, fair and modern. I am glad to introduce today a statutory…

• Draft Representation of the People (Franchise Amendment and Eligibility Review) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023 Commons · General Committees · 24 October 2023
• Draft Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2024 Draft Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling etc.) (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 Commons · General Committees · 21 February 2024 · Mr Baker

  I am glad to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray, and I am grateful to all members of the Committee for being here this morning to consider these substantial and important draft statutory instruments. This Government are committed to protecting the integrity of our democratic process, and we continue to deliver on that commitment by introducing measures included in our manifesto to prevent postal vote harvesting. That is the practice of third parties collecting the votes of large numbers of postal voters. The Elections Act 2022 included a number of changes to ensure that UK elections…

• Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2024 Lords · Grand Committee · 26 February 2024 · The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Caine) (Con)

  This statutory instrument, and the Representation of the People (Postal Vote Handling etc.) (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, were laid before your Lordships House on 10 January. They flow from the Elections Act 2022 and deliver on the Government’s manifesto commitment to stop “postal vote harvesting”: the dubious practice of collecting large numbers of postal votes to be returned by someone other than the voter to whom the ballot paper is issued. One instrument applies these measures to parliamentary and Northern Ireland Assembly elections in Northern Ireland, and the second…

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service has no record of this instrument, although it covers the period. Nothing is inferred from that.

Check the source

• This instrument on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text, including amendments made since
• Other instruments from 2023