Big win as government commits to restoring independence of Electoral Commission

We just saw a significant victory when it comes to ensuring the independence of our elections watchdog.

It came during the second reading of the Representation of the People Bill on Monday, which is the government’s legislation to reform elections with measures such as votes at 16, automating voter registration and tightening rules around political donations.  During the debate, Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, announced that the government will remove the government’s ability to set the strategic direction of the Electoral Commission.

Announcing the move in Parliament, he said: “We recognise the importance of maintaining confidence in the commission’s operational independence and ensuring it can carry out its statutory duties effectively, so we will repeal in full the power for government to impose a strategy and policy statement on the Electoral Commission.”

Weakening independence risks undermining public trust

This is an important win for democracy campaigners, as it undoes the damaging move by the last government to bring the Electoral Commission under the direction of ministers. The Electoral Commission is effectively the referee that ensures our elections are run properly and that political parties adhere to electoral law. Any move to weaken its independence risks undermining public trust in how our democracy is run and also risks opening the door to potential political interference in the future.

This week’s announcement promises to reverse the last government’s policy, introduced in the Elections Act 2022, which required the Electoral Commission to ‘have regard to’ a strategy and policy statement set by ministers, which reflects the government’s policy priorities and set out the ‘roles and responsibilities’ of the commission in achieving those priorities. The commission also had to report annually against that statement to the Speaker’s Committee. We argued these stipulations amounted to a significant imposition on the commission’s regulatory autonomy.

‘The government should not be able to instruct the people trying to referee its re-election’

The Electoral Commission itself was highly critical of the change, noting that allowing government to guide its work, “is inconsistent with the role that an independent electoral commission plays in a healthy democracy”. Last year, Vijay Rangarajan, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, put a finer point on it, saying: “The point of principle is a government depends on an election to get re-elected. And it shouldn’t be able to instruct the people who are trying to referee that re-election.”

The ERS vehemently opposed the move when it was introduced and has campaigned against it ever since, arguing, along with colleagues in the democracy sector, that it is ‘critical’ that independence is restored. This is especially important against a backdrop where trust in our politics has slumped to record lows, as the British Social Attitudes Survey has found. So, credit must go to ministers for taking this important step in moving to restore the Electoral Commission’s independence. It is a big move in the right direction when it comes to rebuilding trust in politics, as it will help protect public confidence in the body refereeing our elections.

This is also a victory for anyone who cares about the health of our democracy. It shows the power of consistent campaigning, which has been enabled and supported by our members, and that change is possible when it comes to reforming and reinforcing our democratic and political institutions.

Support the Electoral Reform Society

Democratic reform isn’t always a one-way street. But the Electoral Reform Society is here for the long term thanks to the support of our members.

You can help to strengthen this work. If you join the Society as a member, your contributions will support our work in parliament like this, as well as in the press and online – making the case, and backing it up – for how we can fix Westminster’s broken system.