BRADFORD South MP Judith Cummins has introduced a Bill to modernise the electoral system by automatically adding eligible voters to the register.

The Automatic Electoral Registration Bill would replace the current individual electoral registration system by automatically using data held by government departments and public services. This could include using information from the DWP, DVLA and the Passport Office.

The MP says an accurate electoral register would ensure everyone who is eligible is able to vote but also allow constituency boundaries to be drawn fairly. The upcoming boundary review is likely to be impacted by the pandemic. The Bill is supported by a cross-party group of MPs with its second reading scheduled for October 30.

Speaking in the Commons, Judith Cummins MP said: “This Bill has a very simple aim: to ensure that everyone who is entitled to vote in this country is able to do so. It does that by moving away from the current system of electoral registration – one that is complicated, fragmented, and crucially, incomplete – to a new system, where individuals are automatically added to the register using data the Government already holds.”

Speaking on how coronavirus effects the boundary review, Judith Cummins MP said: “We cannot know what the crises of the future will be. But we can prepare by building a registration system that is fit for the twenty-first century.

“I firmly believe that the current crisis shows the importance of reforming and modernising our electoral registration system; to make it resilient for the challenges of the future that we cannot imagine now, and to guarantee everyone the right to vote and be counted.”