Heather Green
@votingrules
Legal academic - public law & law relating to elections. Former University employee, now working independently/not institutionally affiliated in Aberdeen, Scotland.
This is a good read on the Dungeness lifeboat & RNLI, with some harrowing accounts of Channel rescues.
This would be preferable to an inquiry limited to the Murrell scandal/SNP, but the legal regulation of political parties and party finance law, are reserved matters, so any recommendations for law reform would depend on their being political will to do that at Westminster.
Electoral Commission has published its annual data on electoral fraud for 2025. Total of 2 convictions, one for supplying false info when registering to vote; one for personation in relation to a postal vote. www.electoralcommission.org.uk/research-rep...
A letter from Pete Wishart (a former chair) to current chair of Scottish Affairs Committee urging it not to start an inquiry into SNP governance/finance re Murrell scandal. As he says, this is outside the scope of the committee's functions.
EC is authorised to scrutinise SNP's handling of its publicly-funded policy development grants. Press statement last week to The National said those grants seem to have been audited properly, no obvious evidence of fraud.
Writs moved today for both Aberdeen & Broughty Ferry and Dundee South by-elections, but not Makerfield.
Burnham's team say the PCC legislation, Police Reform & Social Responsibility Act 2011, s67 would disqualify him as mayor if he wins by-election. I'm looking for the SI that applies that section to mayor/PCCs ...so that he would be required to resign as mayor immediately.
Here is Erskine May on the rule that mayors with PCC functions are disqualified as MPs. The 2016 Act it mentions does not directly disqualify. It says Secretary of State 'shall by order' apply the bar on PCCs being MPs to mayor/PCCs.
It's good that the Commission is doing more of this. But widespread misunderstanding of the limits of its statutory powers mean quite a lot of replies are of the type 'it's not our job to regulate this, try Ofcom' etc
The Electoral Commission was more visibly active on X at these elections, trying to counter conspiracy theories about pencils & answering other concerns
The Electoral Management Board for Scotland took the decision to hold the count during the day. The EMB'S direction & reasons are here www.emb.scot/news/article...
It could be caught by the electoral offence of bribery. The sign up form asks about voting intention. That arguably shows that use of the lottery free gift encompasses an intention to induce voters to support Reform as payback for financial support (or the lottery hope of it) for utility bills.
From David Torrance on X - Mandelson 'struck out' as Privy Counsellor on Tuesday
Commonwealth citizen voting rights are an anomaly. Reform's condemnation of them is all too predictable and racism-inflected. Political pushback should look at the model in Scotland & Wales: From 2020/21, all residents of any nationality with leave to remain can vote in all devolved elections.
Electoral Commission has responded to a complaint from James Cleverly about so-called 'family voting'. Unhelpfully, EC says 'family voting is an offence'. It's not a legal term. The relevant statutory offences don't use the phrase, which is politically loaded & imprecise in exploitable ways.
Important point from @matthewengland.bsky.social (on X) that Democracy Observers are using a looser definition of so-called 'family voting' than the terms used by Ballot Secrecy Act 2023. Their report could capture conduct that is not criminal, like queueing voters conversing on ballot options.
Asked 'when Gov is going to issue a new Strategy & Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission', minister answers without confirming expressly any plans to do so. May be a hint that Gov position is shifting to consider repeal of controversial power to direct EC's priorities in Elections Act 2022.
Automatic voter registration - steps towards it 'to be explored in the coming years', Gov says, 'when parliamentary time allows' for relevant legislation. Reforming the electoral registration regime to reach the missing millions (8m on one estimate) should be a higher priority.
Christmas as 'that often troublesome festival', from Margaret Oliphant's Hester (1833)
Savoy Centre concrete sign surviving demolition of Sauchiehall St M&S next door
Minister confirming that voter ID law will be reformed to permit use of bank cards issued by UK-regulated banks.