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The independence of the Electoral Commission must be fully restored to protect the UK’s electoral integrity from a future authoritarian government, a new report warns.
The Democracy in Danger report by Spotlight on Corruption found the UK government is in breach of eight different international standards on ensuring the independence of electoral bodies by maintaining the government’s oversight of the watchdog.
It warned current ministerial power over the Electoral Commission, brought in by Boris Johnson, “could easily be abused to undermine our democracy”.
Arron Banks, a Reform mayoral candidate and senior supporter of the party, said this week that he would like to see the Electoral Commission abolished if Nigel Farage wins power.
The watchdog previously investigated Banks’s Leave.EU group after the referendum. It was fined £70,000 for overspending and inaccurate returns, which was reduced to £66,000 on appeal.
New polling released by Spotlight on Corruption and Transparency also found 60% of Reform voters support the Electoral Commission despite Banks criticising the body.
Labour is tightening loopholes in the law around foreign donations in a promised new elections bill. However, it has stopped short of restoring the Electoral Commission to independence, despite having criticised Johnson’s move to undermine it when Labour was in opposition.
Johnson put it under government oversight for the first time in 2022, giving ministers the right to set its policy objectives.
Speaking to the Guardian over the summer, Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said it was time for the power to be overturned.
“The point of principle is a government depends on an election to get re-elected,” he said. “And it shouldn’t be able to instruct the people who are trying to referee that re-election.”
While the government has so far resisted rolling back Johnson’s changes, peers could push for the Electoral Commission to become fully independent again when the promised elections legislation reaches the House of Lords.
The report’s key findings included that:
The UK government is in breach of eight different international standards on ensuring the independence of electoral bodies by maintaining the new power in place.
All the constitutional oversight bodies that reviewed the ministerial power opposed its introduction – including two parliamentary committees, the UK’s top ethics body, the Committee on Standards in Public Life, and the Electoral Commission’s oversight body, the Speaker’s Committee.
The UK has plummeted down international rankings for electoral body autonomy since the power was introduced and now ranks 44th, among countries such as Ghana, Nepal and Croatia. It has fallen out of line with comparable countries such as Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.
The power, which was described by the former MI5 director general and chair of the top ethics body, Lord Evans, as “giving a toddler a gun”, could be used by a future government with autocratic tendencies to distort electoral rules in its favour to maintain power.
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The campaign group said it was urging the government to deliver on its pledge to protect democracy by removing the ministerial power to set the Electoral Commission’s strategy and policy.
It also called for the government to put the statutory independence of the Electoral Commission clearly into legislation and introduce rules that create two new lay members on the Speaker’s Committee to represent the ordinary voter.
Susan Hawley, the executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, said: “The democratic backsliding we’re seeing in countries such as Hungary and the US should offer up a stark warning about the slippery slope of stripping election regulators of their independence for government. “It has been alarming to see this government commit to another strategy and policy statement in its new elections strategy. These powers could easily be abused to undermine democracy by a future authoritarian government.”
The government maintains that the Electoral Commission is operationally independent. A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “This government is taking decisive action to strengthen and protect Britain’s democracy.
“We reject these findings and are clear the Electoral Commission will remain operationally independent. We will continue to support it to act without fear or favour – including on stamping out foreign interference and upholding donation rules.”
