Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 June 2020
Unlike Mr Kerr, I will not fight old battles; instead, I want to focus on what is actually before us. The two measures in question are a result of the extension of the electoral franchise in devolved elections to foreign nationals and certain prisoners as a result of the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act 2020.
The changes relate mainly to the local government electoral register, which is also used for Scottish Parliament elections. As a result, most of the following is contained in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2020, which are made under the Representation of the People Act 1983. They make consequential changes to the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/497). The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc) (Amendment) Order 2020 makes one change that is specific to Scottish Parliament elections; it is made under section 12 of the Scotland Act 1998.
The Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act 2020’s provisions on prisoner voting came into force on 2 April 2020, which was the day after royal assent. No elections have occurred since then and none are scheduled until October, but it is now possible for eligible prisoners to seek to register to vote. Electoral professionals have requested a number of changes to make that process operate smoothly. The regulations therefore require prisoners to provide their prisoner number in applying to be added to the register. They also remove the requirement for an electoral registration officer to personally visit a prisoner who does not respond to three successive invitations to register. That is what is before us tonight.
A commencement order that was made at the end of May means that the bill’s extension of voting rights in respect of eligible foreign nationals will commence on 3 August. The introduction of those new voters requires changes to be made to electoral management systems, including a new marker for the recording of foreign national and prisoner voters on the electoral register.
The regulations make that change with a new “M” marker to be applied in respect of qualifying foreign nationals from 3 August and eligible prisoners from 1 September. Those dates were agreed in discussion with electoral professionals and system providers. The regulations and the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc) (Amendment) Order 2020 update existing statutory references to EU nationals, who will now come within the new category of “qualifying foreign national” that is adopted in the 2020 act.
The order also makes the necessary technical changes to provide that a qualifying foreign national who is registered as a local government elector or is entered in the list of electoral proxies is not excluded from voting at a Scottish Parliament election on the ground that they were not a qualifying national on the relevant date, which in most cases will be the date on which their application was made.
The two SSIs therefore make various necessary consequential changes to secondary legislation to ensure that citizens of all countries will be able to vote in Scottish Parliament and Scottish local government elections as long as they have the right to remain in the UK and ordinarily reside in Scotland. I ask the Parliament to support the instruments.