Voter Registration, Election Turnout and Compulsory Voting

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Bishop of Leicester

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We worked very closely with the devolved Administrations as we went through this process. There were a number of pilots in Wales, for example, and we are working with our Welsh colleagues to explore what they learned from their experience. We are looking very carefully at open registers because, as we explore and adopt those more automated approaches, we want to remove the presumption that citizens will be added to an open register unless they opt out. I think it will work the other way round, in effect, once we have automated voter registration. All those issues are being explored very carefully, and we are very much looking at the experience in our devolved Administrations to learn what we can with them and from them.

[The Lord Bishop of Leicester]

My Lords, democracy is of course about a lot more than simply voter participation. What are the Government currently doing to enable civic participation at this time, particularly by minoritised groups, which will aid in safeguarding our democracy?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am grateful to the right reverend Prelate, because he enables me to answer in a better way the question that the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson, asked me yesterday about how we are involving and engaging people in the democratic process. Electors’ attitudes and motivations are arguably more important than process issues in stopping them registering and voting, as I am sure the right reverend Prelate will be aware. The Electoral Commission, as I said, explored the reasons for that. Backed by a total of £2.5 million, the democratic engagement fund will provide grants of £1,000 to £50,000, with most awards expected to be around £25,000. We expect projects on that democratic engagement to be completed by January 2028, and we will be exploring many different ways of having better democratic engagement, particularly across groups that are less inclined to vote.