Committee of MPs urges Government to ditch plans for new powers to set direction of electoral watchdog

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) has called on the Government to scrap its proposals for new powers over the Electoral Commission.

The Elections Bill, which returns to the House of Lords on Monday (25 April), introduces a Government Strategy and Policy Statement for the watchdog.

In a letter to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, committee chair William Wragg MP restated concerns with the lack of public consultation on the plans.

Wragg noted how the Electoral Commission had written to the minister stating its “firm view” that the Strategy and Policy Statement was “inconsistent with the role that an independent Electoral Commission plays in a healthy democracy”.

It would, the Commission argued, “provide a mechanism driven by the then governing party enabling that parties ministers to shape how the electoral law is applied to them and their political competitors”.

Wragg wrote: “The risk inherent in these provisions is evident for all to see. This is an unacceptable risk to the functioning of our democracy, regardless of the Government’s statements regarding their particular approach to the Strategy and Policy Statement.”

The letter urges the Secretary of State to accept an amendment in the House of Lords which mirrors a recommendation of the committee in its December 2021 report into the Elections Bill, calling for the removal of the offending clauses from the Bill.

Wragg said that if the Government will not accept the removal of the clauses, it should accept the committee’s compromise recommendations.

1. That “the Bill be amended to provide that the Electoral Commission is able to depart from the guidance set out in the Statement if it has a statutory duty to do so or if it reasonably believes it is justified in specific circumstances”. All this amendment would do is give effect to the Government’s stated intention that the Statement will not amount to a power to direct the Electoral Commission, and to protect the Electoral Commission’s independence, Wragg said.
2. To apply “the ‘super-affirmative procedure’ for approval of the Statement, to ensure that parliamentarians have the formal opportunity to feed into and make recommendations on the draft Statement before it is laid for approval (via the ‘affirmative’ parliamentary approval procedure)”. Wragg suggested that given the Government’s stated objective of these measures was to improve Parliamentary scrutiny of the Electoral Commission, and make the Commission “fully accountable to Parliament for the way it discharges its functions”, this amendment represented the bare minimum that should be applied, given the concerns raised.

The PACAC chair separately called on the minister to urgently provide the data which led the Government to conclude that proposed voter ID provisions were “proportionate”. This was after the Secretary of State committed in an evidence session to supplying the committee with “all the data required” to this end.

The committee said in its December 2021 report that the Government had not adequately assessed the proportionality of the measure to require photographic ID at polling stations, risking disenfranchisement of large numbers of people, and highlighted particular concerns over the lack of data on the impact of the proposal on minority groups.

In the letter Wragg warned that the consolidation and simplification of electoral law was both necessary and urgent work, adding that “until it is carried out there is a not insignificant risk of something unforeseen taking place could occur with a UK election, damaging our democracy”.

He said that, with this in mind, “we [the committee] appreciate your openness to initiating this work once the Elections Bill has become law”. This was a substantial piece of work that should be started as a matter of urgency, he added.

“We note that the House of Lords Constitution Committee recommended that this consolidation should be completed before the next General Election. We agree. As such, we are calling for the Government to include a commitment in the Queens Speech to begin this work on a cross party basis.”

Wragg has requested a detailed response to the letter by 22 April, in time for the Bill’s next stages in the House of Lords.