Political and civic participation, including political representation – Government action

UK Government actions:

• In April 2022, the Elections Act gained Royal Assent. The stated purpose of the Act is to improve security, accessibility and transparency of elections and campaigning. It introduced voter photo ID requirements at polling stations in UK parliamentary elections in Great Britain and local elections in England. It also introduced a new electoral offence of intimidation of candidates and campaigners.
• In June 2019, the UK Government published a refreshed Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan for Britain alongside its response to the 2018 Lord Holmes Review into opening up public appointments for disabled people. The plan commits to improving the quality of data on public appointments and to increasing the levels of diversity among appointees by 2022.
• In December 2018, the EnAble Fund for Elected Office was launched to help political parties better support disabled candidates by providing grants that cover disability-related expenses in England. The fund closed on 31 March 2020.
• In March 2018, the UK Government introduced changes to anonymous voter registration to make it easier for domestic abuse survivors across Britain to register to vote anonymously.
• The UK Government ran voter ID pilots in five local authorities in England during the 2018 local government elections, requiring voters to present personal identification before casting their ballot. Similar pilots were held in May 2019.
• In 2018, the UK Government amended guidance to allow prisoners on temporary licence in England and Wales to vote, in response to the European Court of Human Rights judgment in Hirst v United Kingdom.
• In December 2017, the UK Government published a Democratic Engagement Plan outlining how it would increase participation among under-registered groups.

Welsh Government actions: Some aspects of participation are the responsibility of the Welsh Government, but a number of areas related to elections and political parties are reserved to the UK Government.

• In May 2022, the Welsh Government confirmed its commitment to a number of Welsh Parliament (Senedd) reforms, including gender quotas, as part of the cooperation agreement between the Welsh Labour Government and Plaid Cymru.
• In February 2021, the Welsh Government funded a pilot Access to Elected Office Fund to support disabled candidates with the additional costs associated with seeking elected office.
• In January 2021, the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act received Royal Assent. It includes provisions for reforming participation in local democracy and electoral arrangements for local government, and extends the right to vote in local elections to young people aged 16–17 and ‘qualifying foreign citizens’.
• In September 2020, the Welsh Government launched phase two of its Diversity in Democracy programme, aiming to increase the number of local government candidates from diverse backgrounds.
• In February 2020, the Welsh Government launched its diversity and inclusion strategy for public appointments, which set out the actions to be taken in 2020/21 to improve the diversity of public leaders in Wales.
• In June 2019, the Welsh Government agreed to introduce legislation to give prisoners serving custodial sentences of less than four years the ability to vote in local government elections. However, this has not been brought forward.