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Representation of the People Bill: HL Bill 47 of 2026–27

Approximate read time: 55 minutes

The House of Lords is scheduled to debate the Representation of the People Bill at second reading on 14 September 2026.

Key points

• The Representation of the People Bill is a government bill that would update electoral law to implement Labour Party manifesto commitments and subsequent objectives set out in a July 2025 strategy document on elections.
• Among its provisions the bill would lower the voting age to 16 for UK parliamentary elections and other reserved elections; enable automatic electoral registration processes; expand acceptable forms of voter ID in Great Britain to include in-date bank cards; introduce a range of measures regarding political finance, including restrictions on donations from overseas electors, a moratorium on political donations via cryptoassets, and updated ‘know your donor’ due diligence requirements; expand digital campaign transparency requirements; strengthen the Electoral Commission’s regulatory and enforcement powers; and extend measures aimed at tackling intimidation and hostility against candidates and campaigners to also cover electoral staff.
• The bill has been broadly welcomed by groups such as the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators, although both organisations have expressed concern about the bill’s provisions on allowing bank cards to be used as voter ID. The Conservative Party opposed the bill at second reading in the House of Commons on grounds including that extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds was inconsistent with other aspects of the government’s position on ages of majority and citizenship and concerns over automatic voter registration.
• The bill was amended during both its committee and report stages, with many of the government’s later amendments implementing recommendations from the Rycroft review on countering foreign financial influence and interference.

Image by Red Dot on Unsplash.