Your Guide to the EU Voter Confirmation Review

Due the UK leaving the EU, the voting rights of EU citizens have changed.

If you are a registered EU citizen, you may receive a communication from us asking you to declare if you are still eligible to remain registered to vote under the new laws in the Elections Act 2022. EUVCR communications will start going out on 22 August 2024.

We are required to check that all our registered electors with an EU nationality are still eligible to remain registered to vote.

This is a one-off communications event running from August to the end of September 2024.

Residents who do not respond to the EUVCR will be removed from the Elections Register and must re-apply if they are eligible to vote.

More information about the Elections Act 2022 can be found here. 

I’m an EU citizen, am I still eligible to vote?

Under the Elections Act 2022, qualifying EU nationals can only vote in local elections.

To qualify to register to vote in local elections, an EU citizen living in the UK must be either:

• A citizen of Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Poland, or Denmark

       OR

• An EU citizen not from a country above who was legally resident in the UK before 31 December 2020 with unbroken lawful immigration status

Citizens of Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Denmark are eligible to vote in UK local elections as the UK has a bilateral voting agreement with these countries.

An EU citizen not from Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Poland, or Denmark, can register to vote as long as they qualify to have ‘retained rights’. Residents eligible to register under ‘retained rights’ are EU citizens who were legally resident in the UK before 31 December 2020 and have unbroken lawful immigration status.

EU Voter Confirmation Review FAQs

I am an EU citizen and have completed the Annual Canvass form, do I need to respond to the EUVCR?

Canvass and the EUVCR are different processes, and both must be responded to if you are asked to do so. Responding only to Canvass and not the EUVCR will result in the EU citizen being removed from the register as they have not confirmed their eligibility to remain registered to vote.

What will happen if I don’t respond?

If you do not respond to the EUVCR you will be removed from the Elections Register and must re-apply if you are eligible to vote.

I have registered with Council Tax. Does this automatically update the Electoral Register?

Registering for Council Tax will not update your registration on the Electoral Register. Please respond to our EUVCR communication to remain registered to vote if you are eligible.

How are you keeping my data safe?

The information you give us will only be used for electoral purposes and is stored securely according to data protection legislation. Personal information provided to us will not be shared with another organisation unless required or specified in law. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Notice.

Didn’t find what you were looking for? 

Contact our Elections team on 0161 342 8355 or elections@tameside.gov.uk