European Union citizens-voting rights for EU citizens have changed
Following the UK’s departure from the European Union, voting rights for EU citizens have changed.
To be registered to vote, EU citizens living in England must meet new eligibility criteria, based on the country they are from and when they started living in the UK.
Changes to the franchise of EU citizens were introduced by UK government via the Elections Act 2022. In England, the general right of European Union citizens to register, vote and stand in local government elections will be removed.
The Elections Act amends section 2 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 which provides the franchise for local government elections.
This will mean that to vote or stand in all local government elections, an EU citizen will be required to be either:
- a qualifying EU citizen
- an EU citizen with retained rights
This change will not affect the rights of citizens from Ireland, Malta or Cyprus.
Meaning of qualifying EU citizen
A person is a qualifying EU citizen if they are:
- a citizen of a country with which the UK has bilateral Voting and Candidacy Rights (VCR) treaty
- resident in the UK with any form of leave to remain, or do not require such leave
Currently the UK holds bilateral treaties with the following countries:
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
- Poland
- Portugal
- Spain
Meaning of EU citizen with retained rights
A person is an EU citizen with retained rights if they are a citizen of a country with which the UK does not have bilateral Voting and Candidacy Rights (VCR) treaty and have been legally resident in the UK since before the UK left the EU on 31 December 2020 (the Implementation Period Completion Date – IPCD).
Eligibility Confirmation Review (ECR) Process
The ECR process will consist of two parts:
- the data-based review process
- correspondence-based review
The data-based review provides for the use of any data which the ERO may hold or have access to for the purpose of their registration duties.
This may enable them to identify qualifying EU citizens and EU citizens with retained rights without taking any further action other than to write out to the elector to confirm they are being retained on the register.
We expect most EU electors will be able to be confirmed through the data-based review, including all qualifying EU Citizens.
Where an elector cannot be confirmed via data, the correspondence-based review will be used to write out to them to ask them to confirm if they remain eligible to be registered to vote under new franchise criteria.
This will be done by asking electors to confirm if they meet the new historical residency requirements.
Electors will receive up to three review notices including a personal contact. If no response is received in this time, the ERO will determine they are ineligible to remain registered.
We will contact all EU registered electors starting on 1 November 2024 and finishing on or before 31 January 2025.
For further information on the changes to EU elector voter rights you can visit www.electoralcommission.org.uk/EU or you can email the election team at [email protected] or call 01582 510380.