Representation of the People Bill 2024-26

June 2026 update

The bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday 2 March 2026. This briefing was written in advance of the second reading debate and first published in February 2026. Later stages of the bill can be tracked in the Library briefing, Representation of the People Bill: progress of the bill, first published in June 2026.

Summary

The Representation of the People Bill 2024–26 proposes extensive changes to electoral law across the UK. It covers voting age reform, electoral registration, voter identification, conduct of elections, political finance regulation, enforcement arrangements for the Electoral Commission, and measures to address intimidation of candidates and election staff.

The bill would implement many of the policy objectives in the UK Government’s election strategy policy paper, published in July 2025.

The bill applies across the UK, but the application of provisions varies to reflect devolution of the power to legislate for devolved elections. In Scotland and Wales that power lies with the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd Cymru. Some areas in the bill do overlap with devolved powers and the UK Government has said it will seek legislative consent to legislate.

The bill has 81 clauses and eleven schedules. The bill, its explanatory notes and other supporting documents are available on the Parliament website on the pages for the Representation of the People Bill.

Electoral law has been described by the Law Commission as “increasingly complex and fragmented”. It notes that electoral law in the UK is spread across 17 statutes and some 30 sets of regulations. It means some of the clauses in the bill are similarly complex. The Library briefing, Election glossary, explains many of the terms used in elections.

Votes at 16

Part 1 of the bill would make the necessary changes to electoral law to lower the voting age for reserved elections from 18 to 16. This includes powers to make regulations to facilitate registration of newly enfranchised young people.

This policy was a manifesto commitment by the Labour Party. Approximately 1.7 million young people would become eligible to vote in UK Parliament elections. The change would also apply to local elections in England and to elections in Northern Ireland.

The Conservative Party and Reform UK oppose the change. Most other parties in the House of Commons favour lowering the voting age, with the Liberal Democrats having a policy to reduce the voting age since 2001.

Public opinion is divided; polling shows more people oppose than support votes at 16, although support is stronger among younger age groups.

Automatic voter registration

Part 2 of the bill deals with the registration of voters. The main provisions would allow for a system of electoral registration that is more automated and where people can be added to the registers without the need to apply.

It also allows for pilot schemes to test ways of achieving this. The intention is to learn from the pilots to create a permanent system of automatic registration. Part 2 would also introduce several other administrative changes to registration processes.

Automatic registration is one tool for improving the accuracy and completeness of the registers. Research has consistently shown registration rates differ between different groups. Age, how often someone moves house, ethnicity and socio-economic background all impact a person’s likelihood to be on an electoral register.

The Electoral Commission believes “Implementing automated and automatic registration systems will help reduce the large number of eligible voters unregistered.”

Conduct of elections

Part 3 of the bill would make several changes to the way elections are run.

Voter ID

The bill would implement the UK Government’s intention to expand accepted forms of voter ID to include bank cards issued by UK banks. The government says this would “address the inconsistencies in voter ID rules that prevent legitimate voters from voting”. The Electoral Commission has said “using bank cards as voter ID has risks for security and voter trust”.

Nominations

Most of the clauses in part 3 would make changes to the nominations process. These include bringing the nomination deadline for elections forward by five hours. This is aimed at allowing ballot papers to be printed earlier in the process.

The bill would also require candidates in elections to provide documentary evidence of who they are. Speaker’s Conference on the security of MPs, candidates and elections and the Electoral Commission have both recommended that nomination requirements should be strengthened to make it harder for candidates to mislead voters about their true identity.

Information for voters

This part of the bill also aims to improve the information available to voters, such as candidate information and eligibility to vote. It would do this by enabling government ministers or the Electoral Commission to access the information and then publish it online in a central information hub.

Postal voting deadlines in Great Britain

The bill would make technical changes to the deadline for registration officers approving postal voting applications in advance of an election. The explanatory notes to the bill note the intention to move the postal vote application deadline in Great Britain to three days earlier in the electoral timetable. These changes, with the altered nomination deadline are aimed at maximising the time available for postal voters to fill out and return their ballots.

Political donations

Part 4 primarily deals with political finance. It would make changes to the eligibility of companies, limited liability partnerships and unincorporated associations to make donations to political parties (and other campaigners). This is to tighten the rules to prevent the potential for foreign donations to enter UK politics. These respond to some of the recommendations made by the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL – now replaced by the Ethics and Integrity Commission) in its most recent report on political finance, in 2021.

‘Know your donor’ requirements

The bill would strengthen ‘know your donor’ requirements that will require parties and other regulated identities to risk assess larger donations. The risk assessment is designed to ensure donations from impermissible sources, such as foreign donations, do not enter UK politics.

Company donations

The bill would strengthen the requirement that a UK business is UK-based and that it could only donate money from UK-generated revenue. The UK Government policy paper explains this is to prevent ‘shell companies’, legal business entities that have no substantial assets or staff, from making political donations.

The CSPL had recommended that companies should not be able to donate more money than they generate in profits. The Electoral Commission has warned that using revenue instead of profit “would not reduce the risk of foreign money entering British politics through companies”.

Unincorporated associations

The CSPL and the Electoral Commission have identified unincorporated associations (UA) as a weak point in political finance rules. A UA is “an association of individuals who have come together to carry out a shared purpose”. Examples are members’ clubs, political dining clubs or groups of councillors. Around 5% of political donations come from UAs.

They are permitted to make political donations but are not required to check the source of their own received donations. The CSPL recommended that UAs should be required to conduct the same checks as political parties on donations received by the UA that are then passed on as donations from the UA to a political party.

The bill would implement the CSPL’s recommendations in relation to UAs.

Rycroft Review – foreign interference

In December 2025, the UK Government announced an independent review into foreign financial interference in UK politics. The government said the conclusions of the review, chaired by Philip Rycroft, are due at the end of March 2026. It also said any recommendations would feed into the ‘forthcoming’ elections bill. The Representation of the People Bill 2024–26 was introduced before the review has reported. It is possible for the government to introduce amendments to the bill during its passage.

Enforcement and the Electoral Commission

Part 5 would make changes to the enforcement regime for political finance regulated by the Electoral Commission. The main effect would be to decriminalise certain offences and bring them within the commission’s civil sanction regime. This would simplify the enforcement process and is aimed at making it more proportionate given that many people involved in campaigning are volunteers. These were key recommendations of the CSPL that the government accepted in its July election strategy.

Intimidation

Part 6 would extend the provisions dealing with intimidatory behaviour aimed at candidates and campaigners to include election staff. These were established by the Elections Act 2022. The bill would also introduce a new aggravating factor to be considered by courts when sentencing those convicted of intimidatory behaviour aimed at candidates, campaigners and election staff.