UK Offence Report

Part 1 Provisions coming into force on 14 April 2025 Column 1 Column 2 (Provisions of the Act) (Subject…

Schedule of The Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2025

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

Part 1 Provisions coming into force on 14 April 2025 Column 1 Column 2 (Provisions of the Act) (Subject matter) Sections 3, 4 and 5 Disqualification of MPs, members of the House of Lords and councillors Section 22 Third parties capable of giving notification Section 25 Code of practice on controls relating to third parties Section 31 Rescheduling of by-elections Section 34 Power of returning officer to postpone or cancel by-election Section 35 Review of order of candidates on ballot papers used at elections Section 39 Pilot scheme under the Scottish Local Government (Elections) Act 2002 Sections 40, 41, 42 and 43 Pilot for registration of electors Section 44 Funding to increase democratic engagement Section 45 Scottish Ministers’ power to make provision about elections under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 Section 58 Guidance regarding information to be included with certain electronic material at Scottish elections Section 60 Scottish Ministers regulation making powers Section 61 Consequential revocations Sections 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68 Electoral Commission Part 2 Provisions coming into force on 1 August 2025 Column 1 Column 2 (Provisions of the Act) (Subject matter) Sections 1 and 2 Candidacy rights etc. of foreign nationals Sections 6 and 7 Disqualifications relating to sexual offences and notification requirements Sections 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and the schedule Scottish disqualification orders Sections 15, 16 and 17 Disqualification orders under the Elections Act 2022 Sections 18 and 19 Temporary relief from disqualification Section 20 Ending the ambulatory effect of section 15 of the Scotland Act 1998 Section 21 Notional and third party expenditure: Scottish Parliament elections Section 23 Restriction on which third parties may incur controlled expenditure Section 24 Transitional provision: offences relating to third party expenditure Section 26 Notional expenditure: local government elections Sections 62 and 63 Boundaries Scotland Part 3 Provisions coming into force on 1 October 2025 Column 1 Column 2 (Provisions of the Act) (Subject matter) Section 27 Power of Presiding Officer to postpone ordinary election Section 28 Power of Presiding Officer to schedule extraordinary general elections Section 29 Election of new Presiding Officer: extension of period Section 30 Choice of new First Minister after changed election date Section 32 Power of convenor of Electoral Management Board to postpone ordinary local election Section 33 Power of returning officer to postpone election for their area Sections 36, 37 and 38 Home addresses of candidates and agents Section 46 Access to Elected Office Fund Section 47 Application of this Part Section 48 Key definitions Section 49 Further definitions relating to candidates, parties and elections Section 50 Electronic material: conditions for application of section 52 Section 51 Purpose of the electronic material Section 52 Requirement to include information Section 53 Exceptions to requirement in section 52 Section 54 Offence of breaching section 52 Section 55 Individual culpability where organisation commits an offence Section 56 Enforcement by the Electoral Commission Section 57 Supply of information Section 59 Electoral Commission’s annual report

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach Schedule?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2025.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
1 April 2025
In force from
14 April 2025
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations bring into force provisions of the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025 (“the Act”) on three different dates. The provisions listed in Part 1 of the schedule are brought into force on 14 April 2025. The provisions listed in Part 2 of the schedule are brought into force on 1 August 2025. The provisions listed in Part 3 of the schedule are brought into force on 1 October 2025. The Bill for the Act received Royal Assent on 29 January 2025. Sections 72, 73 and 74 of the Act were brought into force on 30 January 2025 by section 73(1) of the Act.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source