---

E-petition debate relating to banning people convicted of terrorism offences from standing for elected office

There will be a Westminster Hall debate on 6 July 2026 at 6pm on e-petition 759385, which calls for people convicted of terrorism offences (in the UK or abroad) to be disqualified from standing for elected office.

The debate will be opened by John Lamont MP. The Petitions Committee agreed to the debate as the e-petition has attracted over 200,000 signatures.

Text of the e-petition

E-petition 759385 states:

Introduce a new legal disqualification so people convicted of terrorism offences (in the UK or abroad) cannot stand as candidates or hold elected office, including local councils.

This is needed because current local election disqualification rules focus mainly on recent imprisonment thresholds (for example, being sentenced to 3 months or more within the last 5 years) and therefore may not prevent individuals with serious historic convictions from standing today. The Electoral Commission notes that the returning officer cannot confirm whether a candidate is disqualified and candidates self-declare their eligibility when submitting nomination papers.

The petition is open until the 6 September 2026. At the time of writing, the petition had over 203,000 signatures. If a petition gets 10,000 signatures, the government will respond to it. If a petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

Government response

The original government response to the petition was given on 1 April 2026. The response is published in full on the petition’s web page. It noted that anyone sentenced to three months or more in prison is disqualified for five years from local government and that someone who has ever been convicted of an imprisonable offence is disqualified from standing for the role of a police and crime commissioner. The government said that the “broader counter terrorism framework” was under constant review.

The response went on to say in relation to MPs:

As regards Members of Parliament, the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and the Representation of the People Act 1981 set out the criteria which disqualify an individual from membership of the UK Parliament.

The 1975 act lists jobs and offices that automatically disqualify someone from being an MP. The 1981 act sets out that someone found guilty of any offence (or offences) and who is serving a sentence for more than a year (or indefinitely) is disqualified from serving as an MP.

People are also disqualified from standing as a candidate in elections if they have committed certain electoral offences. The disqualification is for three or five years depending on the offence.

The Petitions Committee (the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system) asked the government for a revised response because “They felt the response did not respond directly to the request of the petition”.

In its revised response the government said:

We currently have no plans to change the disqualification criteria for these offences.

Currently anyone who has been convicted of any offence in the UK and receives a custodial sentence of three months or more, suspended or not, is disqualified for five years from standing or sitting as a member of an English local authority. Candidates must declare that they are not disqualified from standing for or holding local office. Making a false statement is potentially a criminal offence.

Other disqualification criteria applying to councillors in England include:

• Those under certain bankruptcy restrictions.
• Those disqualified for illegal or corrupt election practices.
• Those subject to certain notification requirements or a relevant order relating to sexual offences.
• Those disqualified when convicted of certain intimidatory criminal offences against certain persons, including candidates of a relevant elective office.

The UK has one of the strongest counter terrorism frameworks in the world. This includes a range of specialised counter terrorism powers which support detection and disruption of terrorist risk, as well as a robust toolkit for managing terrorist offenders upon their release. We always keep this framework under review to ensure it is fit for purpose in the context of emerging threats. This is supported through independent scrutiny provided by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

The UK Government is not responsible for setting the rules for elections to the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru or to local councils in Scotland and Wales.

Nominations and disqualifications

Candidates are responsible for ensuring they are not disqualified when submitting their nominations. Returning officers (the officials that administer elections locally) must accept nominations at face value and only reject them if the form is not filled out as required by election law. Returning officers do not have the power to investigate allegations or claims about candidates, and they cannot reject a nomination because they think someone might be disqualified.

The are very limited exceptions. For example, at a UK Parliament election the returning officer can reject a nomination paper if the candidate is imprisoned and serving a sentence of a year or more (disqualified under the 1981 act), or the person is subject to a disqualification order under section 30 of the Elections Act 2022 (the order can be given as part of a sentence on conviction of intimidatory behaviour against a candidate during an election campaign. It disqualifies someone from standing for election for five years).

In local elections in May 2026 a man who had been convicted of a plot to blow up a church and a hotel in Yemen and imprisoned, stood as an independent candidate in Birmingham. The candidate said the charges were fabricated and he was forced to confess under torture.