The Electoral Commission is in danger.

Two weeks ago, the Constitution Minister, Chloe Smith MP, announced the Government’s plans for the Electoral Commission. The Commission will be stripped of its powers to propose criminal prosecutions, and will be overseen by a Conservative-dominated committee of MPs.

This is a major attack on the Electoral Commission.

To us, it is clear that these changes will weaken the Commission and endanger its independence. So, we conducted a survey to see if our supporters share these concerns. We received almost 2500 responses.

Our supporters are nervous about the Government’s attack on the Electoral Commission. In fact, 95% of respondents stated that they are ‘very concerned’ about the proposed changes. These concerns are justified. Making the Electoral Commission answerable to a committee of Conservative MPs will, in practice, end the Commission's independence. The Commission will be investigating the people who are controlling their work and priorities.

This is unacceptable in a modern democracy. We need an independent elections watchdog to ensure free and fair elections.

The Electoral Commission should be free from political interests so that it can investigate all possible breaches of electoral law. It's independence meant that in 2015, it fined all three of the biggest parties in the UK for breaching election spending rules.

This survey revealed that our supporters do not believe the Government’s reasons for changing the role of the Electoral Commission. Instead, many suspect that the Government is trying to gain party political advantage. 

Here’s some examples of what our supporters believe are the reasons for these changes -  

“The United Kingdom government is making these changes to reduce compliance with electoral law in the hope of benefiting electorally.”

“To render the Electoral Commission powerless & for the benefit of the Conservative party.”

“The government wants to control the Electoral commission to avoid scrutiny and undermine democracy - yet another nail in the coffin of democracy.”

Over the last year, the Conservative Party has stepped up its attacks on the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission, to its credit, has refused to allow this to stop them investigating possible breaches of election law. Most notably, the Electoral Commission launched an investigation into the reporting of any donations provided for the refurbishment of the Prime Minister’s Downing Street flat.

That job will become much more difficult if the Electoral Commission loses its independence and has its powers weakened.

Our survey revealed that 63% of our supporters believe that the Electoral Commission hasn’t been strong enough in regulating politicians and political parties. Only 1% of supporters thought the Electoral Commission had too much power. 

Here’s what some of you said -

“Penalties for party electoral wrongdoing are so minor that political parties can treat them as no more than a passing inconvenience.”

“The fines they have been able to impose are too small; it does not disincentivize rule breaking.”

 “They've done what they can but need to be given greater powers to hold politicians and the Gov to account.”

Unlock Democracy wants to see a stronger Electoral Commission with greater powers to tackle breaches of electoral law and impose larger fines. 

Instead, the Government has chosen to weaken the Commission further by abolishing their power to propose criminal prosecutions. For a Government that likes to talk tough on crime and punishment, it doesn’t appear they think this should apply to people who break election laws.

These proposals on the Electoral Commission are set to be added to the Government’s forthcoming Elections Bill. It’s a bill that threatens free and fair elections in our country by changing rules for party political advantage.

We can’t let them get away with this.

Please help defend our democracy by signing our petition below.