Voting Rights
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Representation of the People Bill, what his Department’s definition is of a British citizen usually resident in the United Kingdom; and what (a) immigration and (b) domiciled status this requires.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
The British Nationality Act 1981 sets out who is a British citizen and how British citizenship may be obtained.
Section 5 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 lays down general principles of residence for electoral purposes, which a registration officer must follow when deciding whether a person is resident at a particular address. The Electoral Commission’s guidance sets out clearly that each decision about residence should be made by the registration officer on a case-by-case basis.
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