The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007

Made: 26th March 2007

Coming into force: 27th March 2007

A draft of these Regulations has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:

Citation, Commencement and Revocation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on the day after that on which they are made except for the purposes of an election if the last date for the publication of the notice of election for that election is on or before 26 March 2007.

• (3) The following instruments are revoked—

• (a) The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections)(England and Wales) Regulations 2002[^f00003];

• (b) The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 [^f00004];

• (c) The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Order 2005[^f00005] to the extent of Part 4 of Schedule 12.

Interpretation

2

In these Regulations, —

• “the 2000 Act” means the Local Government Act 2000;

• “the 1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983[^f00006];

• “the Elections Regulations” means the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001[^f00007];

• “the Mayoral Elections Rules” means the rules set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations;

• “the Referendums Regulations” means the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) Regulations 2012;

• “candidate” means a candidate to be an elected mayor;

• “combined authority mayoral election” means an election of a mayor for a combined authority under Part 6 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009;

• “combined county authority mayoral election” means an election of a mayor for a combined county authority under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023;

• “election” or “mayoral election” means an election for the return of an elected mayor;

• “electoral area”—in relation to a mayoral election in England, means the county, district or London borough in which the election is held;in relation to a mayoral election in Wales, means the county or county borough in which the election is held;

• ...

• “local government election” shall have the same meaning as in section 203(1) of the 1983 Act[^f00010];

• “police and crime commissioner election” means an election of a police and crime commissioner in accordance with Chapter 6 of Part 1 of the 2011 Act;

• “proper officer” has the meaning given by section 270(3) of the Local Government Act 1972;

• “referendum” means a referendum conducted under the Referendums Regulations;

• “relevant election or referendum” means one or more of the following—a Parliamentary election[^f00011];...a local government election;another mayoral election; anda referendum, a combined authority mayoral election, a combined county authority mayoral election; a police and crime commissioner election, the poll at which is taken together with the poll at the mayoral election;

• “returning officer”, in relation to a mayoral election, means—the proper officer of the London borough concerned or, as the case may be, the person appointed as the returning officer for the election in accordance with subsection (1) or (1A) of section 35 (returning officers: local elections in England and Wales)[^f00012] of the 1983 Act as applied by these Regulations; andany person appointed under subsection (4) of that section by a person of a description mentioned in paragraph (a).

Conduct of mayoral elections

3

• (1) An election for the return of an elected mayor[^f00013] shall be conducted in accordance with the Rules set out in Schedule 1 (“the Mayoral Elections Rules”).

• (2) The relevant provisions in the enactments referred to in paragraph (3), shall have effect—

• (a) in relation to the conduct of a mayoral election in England, as they have effect in relation to the conduct of an election of councillors for any county electoral division or district or London borough ward,

• (b) in relation to the conduct of a mayoral election in Wales, as they have effect in relation to the conduct of an election of councillors for any county electoral division or county borough ward,

subject to the modifications set out in paragraph (4).

• (3) The enactments referred to in paragraph (2) are—

• (a) the 1983 Act;

• (b) the Representation of the People Act 1985;

• (c) the Representation of the People Act 2000[^f00014];

• (d) the Elections Regulations, and

• (e) the Electoral Administration Act 2006[^f00015].

• (4) The modifications referred to in paragraph (2) are—

• (a) references in the relevant provisions to “local government elections” shall be taken to include mayoral elections;

• (b) references in the relevant provisions to a “candidate” shall be taken to include a candidate at a mayoral election;

• (c) Subject to paragraph (4A) the other modifications set out in Schedule 2.

• (4A) Where the poll at a mayoral election is taken alone, or is taken together with a poll at a police and crime commissioner election but not with a poll at any other relevant election or referendum, section 199B of the 1983 Act (translation of certain documents) has effect in relation to the conduct of the mayoral election subject to the modification in the Table in Schedule 2A instead of the modification to that section in Table 1 of Schedule 2.

• (5) In this regulation “relevant provisions” means the provisions which have effect in relation to the conduct of the election of councillors for any county electoral division or district or London borough ward (in England) or any county electoral division or county borough ward (in Wales).

Combination of polls

4

• (1) Where the poll at a mayoral election is taken together with the poll at a relevant election or referendum[^f00016], the Mayoral Elections Rules shall be modified so as to have effect as set out in Schedule 3.

• (2) Where the poll at a mayoral election is taken together with a poll at a police and crime commissioner election and is not also taken together with a poll at any other relevant election or referendum, Schedule 3 has effect subject to the modifications set out in Schedule 3A.

Questioning of mayoral election

5

For the purposes of sections 9HE(6) and 44(4) of the 2000 Act, Part 3 (legal proceedings) of the 1983 Act shall have effect in relation to the questioning of an election for the return of an elected mayor as it has effect in relation to the questioning of an election under the local government Act [^f00017].

Free delivery of election addresses

6

• (1) Each candidate at a mayoral election shall be entitled (subject to and in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 4) to have an election address prepared on behalf of the candidate included in a booklet of election addresses—

• (a) prepared by the returning officer; and

• (b) delivered by that officer to each person entitled to vote at that election[^f00018].

• (2) Candidates’ election addresses shall be delivered at the expense of the local authority for whose electoral area the election is held.

• (3) Schedule 4 (which makes provisions supplementing paragraph (1) above) shall have effect.

SCHEDULE 1 — The Mayoral Elections Rules

PART 1 — General provisions

Citation

1

These Rules may be cited as the Mayoral Elections Rules.

Interpretation

2

• (1) In these Rules, “the Appendix” means the Appendix to these Rules.

• (1A) In these Rules, “anonymous elector’s document” and “temporary electoral identity document” have the meanings given in regulation 3(1) of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022.

• (2) Other expressions used both in these Rules and in the 1983 Act (as it applies to local government elections), except for those defined in regulation 2 or modified by regulation 3, shall have the same meaning in these Rules as they have in that Act.

PART 2 — Provisions as to time

Timetable

3

The proceedings at the election shall be conducted in accordance with the following Timetable:

Computation of time

4

• (1) In computing any period of time for the purposes of the Timetable—

• (a) a Saturday or Sunday,

• (b) Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday, or

• (c) a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning,

shall be disregarded, and any such day shall not be treated as a day for the purpose of any proceedings up to the completion of the poll nor shall the returning officer be obliged to proceed with the counting of the votes on such a day.

• (2) In this rule, “bank holiday” means a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971[^f00019] in England and Wales.

PART 3 — Stages common to contested and uncontested elections

Notice of Election

5

• (1) The returning officer must publish notice of the election stating—

• (a) the place and times at which nomination papers are to be delivered, and

• (b) the date of the poll in the event of a contest,

and the notice must state that forms of nomination papers may be obtained at that place and those times.

• (2) The notice of election must also state the arrangements which apply for the payment of the deposit required by rule 10 to be made by means of the electronic transfer of funds.

• (3) The notice of election must state the date by which—

• (a) applications to vote by post or by proxy, and

• (b) other applications and notices about postal or proxy voting,

must reach the registration officer in order that they may be effective for the election.

Nomination of candidates

6

• (1) Each candidate must be nominated by a separate nomination paper.

• (2) A nomination paper must be in the appropriate form in the Appendix or a form to the like effect and shall be delivered at the place fixed for the purpose by the returning officer, which shall be at the offices of the council of the county, county borough, district or London borough in which the electoral area wholly or mainly lies.

• (3) A nomination paper must state the candidate’s—

• (a) full names, and

• (b) home address, in full, and

• (c) if desired, description,

and the surname must be placed first in the list of names.

• (4) If a candidate—

• (a) commonly uses a surname that is different from any other surname the candidate has,

• (b) commonly uses a forename that is different from any other forename the candidate has, or

• (c) otherwise commonly uses one or more forenames or a surname in a different way from the way in which the candidate’s names are stated in accordance with paragraph (3)(a),

the nomination paper may state the commonly used name or names in addition to the names as stated in accordance with paragraph (3)(a).

• (5) The description (if any) can only be—

• (a) one authorised as mentioned in rule 7(1) or (3); or

• (b) the word “Independent”.

• (6) The nomination paper must be accompanied by a form (in these Rules referred to as the “home address form”) which states—

• (a) the candidate’s—

• (i) full names,

• (ii) home address in full, and

• (iii) qualifying address or, if the candidate declares they are qualified by more than one of the qualifications mentioned in paragraph (9), qualifying addresses;

• (b) the attesting person’s—

• (i) full names, and

• (ii) home address in full.

Provision in paragraph (2) about delivery of the nomination paper applies also to the home address form.

• (7) The home address form—

• (a) may contain a statement made and signed by the candidate that the candidate requires their home address not to be made public, and

• (b) if it does so, must—

• (i) if that address is in the United Kingdom, state the relevant area;

• (ii) if that address is outside the United Kingdom, state the country within which it is situated.

• (8) The home address form must also state, in relation to each qualifying address, which of the qualifications mentioned in paragraph (9) that address relates to.

• (9) In this rule, “qualifying address”, in relation to a candidate, means—

• (a) if the candidate declares in their consent to nomination that they are qualified to be elected as mayor by virtue of being registered as a local government elector at a particular address, that address;

• (b) if the candidate declares in that consent that they are qualified to be elected as mayor by virtue of owning or occupying land or other premises in a particular area, a description and the address of that land or those premises;

• (c) if the candidate declares in that consent that they are qualified to be elected as mayor by virtue of their principal or only place of work being in a particular area, the address in full of that place of work;

• (d) if the candidate declares in that consent that they are qualified to be elected as mayor by virtue of residing in a particular area, the address, or addresses, in full at which the candidate has so resided.

• (10) In this rule—

• “attesting person”, in relation to a candidate, means the person who attests the candidate’s consent to nomination in accordance with rule 9(c);

• “relevant area”—in relation to a home address which is in England, means—if it is within a district for which there is a district council, that district;if it is within a county in which there are no districts with councils, that county;if it is within a London borough, that London borough;if it is within the City of London (including the Inner and Middle Temples), the City of London;if it is in the Isles of Scilly, the Isles of Scilly;in relation to a home address which is in Wales, means—if it is within a county, that county;if it is within a county borough, that county borough;in relation to a home address in Scotland, means the local government area in which it is situated;in relation to a home address in Northern Ireland, means the local government district in which it is situated.

Nomination papers: name of registered political party

7

• (1) A nomination paper may not include a description of a candidate which is likely to lead electors to associate the candidate with a registered political party unless the party is a qualifying party in relation to the electoral area and the description is authorised by a certificate—

• (a) issued by or on behalf of the registered nominating officer of the party, and

• (b) received by the returning officer before the last time for the delivery of nomination papers set out in the Timetable in rule 3.

• (2) In paragraph (1) an authorised description may be either—

• (a) the name of the party registered under section 28 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000[^f00020], or

• (b) a description of the party registered under section 28A[^f00021] of that Act.

• (3) A nomination paper may not include a description of a candidate which is likely to lead electors to associate the candidate with two or more registered political parties unless the parties are each qualifying parties in relation to the electoral area and the description is a registered description authorised by a certificate—

• (a) issued by or on behalf of the registered nominating officer of each of the parties, and

• (b) received by the returning officer before the last time for the delivery of nomination papers set out in the Timetable in rule 3.

• (4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), a description is a registered description if it is a description registered for use by the parties under section 28B of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000[^f00022].

• (5) A person shall be guilty of a corrupt practice if he fraudulently purports to be authorised to issue a certificate under paragraph (1) or (3) on behalf of a registered political party’s nominating officer.

• (6) For the purposes of the application of this rule in relation to an election—

• (a) “registered political party” means a party which was registered under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 on the day (“the relevant day”) which is two days before the last day for the delivery of nomination papers at that election;