Will Sheret, BA History and Politics
On December 1st the Government will publish the newly updated electoral register after an 18 month transition period to change the Electoral register from its traditional ‘Head of Household’ model to Individual Electoral Register (IER); whereby everyone is required to register individually. Whilst it is true that the UK was the only Country in Western Europe to still use the previous model of Electoral Registration the there are a number of concerns for this change.
Firstly, there is concern that this change will wipe up to 1.8 Million people off the electoral register, due to the fact that the Government is implementing the change over one year ahead of the previously agreed schedule. Not being on the electoral register means you can’t vote. This has many implications; firstly there are a couple of very important elections in the coming year-namely the Scottish and Welsh London assembly elections as well as the Bristol and London Mayoral ones too.
London could loose over 400,000 voters; in Hackney alone 23% of voters could drop of the electoral register. Research by the Electoral Commission shows that “areas with a high concentration of certain demographics – students, private renters and especially young adults” are likely to be affected the most. Hope not Hate estimate that London will loose up to 6.9% of its voters while the South West only loses 2.8%, affecting traditional conservative voting areas minimally.
During the last government legislation was written to reduce the number of seats in Parliament from 650 too 600. This Boundary review was halted due to internal division between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. However the conservatives, now commanding a majority in government have plans afoot to start a boundary review in 2016 based on this new electoral register; whilst you can still register to vote after December, but it is highly likely that the December figures will be used for the up and coming boundary review. This will result in MPs governing constituencies that they do not truly represent, because the IER changes disproportionately affect the young and the less well off. This is already an issue, as only 58% of 18-24 year olds are registered to vote as it stands. The wider implications of this are yet to be seen but already it is clear that this process will make our society less democratic and less reflective of the society we live in.
Whilst these changes cannot be stopped, if you’re in any doubt whether or not you are on the new electoral register please go to: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and double check. SOAS Labour Society are running an awareness campaign across the University, ensuring everyone is able to vote.