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Statutory Instruments

2003 No. 1899

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE

The Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003

Made

16th July 2003

Coming into force

30th July 2003

Whereas a draft of these Regulations has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament;

And whereas the Lord Chancellor has consulted the Electoral Commission about these Regulations in accordance with section 7(1) and (2) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000(1);

Now, therefore, the Lord Chancellor in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 10(4), 53 and 201(1) and (3) of, and paragraph 10(2) of Schedule 2 to, the Representation of the People Act 1983(2), and now vested in him(3), having regard to the definition of “prescribed” in section 202(1) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement, interpretation and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on the expiry of 14 days beginning with the day on which they are made.

(2) In these Regulations, “the 2001 Regulations” means the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001(4).

(3) These Regulations do not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Revocation

2.  Regulation 4 of and Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2002(5) are hereby revoked.

Prescribed forms

3.  The form set out in Part I of the Schedule to these Regulations is hereby prescribed for use for the purposes of the canvass which is required to be conducted by section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.

Amendment of provision about applications

4.  In regulation 26(6) of the 2001 Regulations (applications for registration)(6) for “the Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2002” substitute “the Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003”.

Signed by authority of the Lord Chancellor

Christopher Leslie

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Constitutional Affairs

16th July 2003

SCHEDULEFORM OF CANVASS AND FORM OF WORDS ABOUT THE TWO VERSIONS OF THE REGISTER

PART IForm prescribed for the purposes of section 10(4) of the 1983 Act (as substituted by Schedule 1 to the 2000 Act)

Part IIForm of words about the two versions of the register

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Under section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as substituted by Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 2000) each registration officer is required to conduct an annual canvass (by reference to residence on 15th October in that year) in his registration area to ascertain the persons who are entitled to be or remain registered as parliamentary or local government electors in that area. These Regulations specify a revised form for the purposes of that canvass, which takes account of the fact that ten new States are likely to accede to the European Union in 2004 and makes provision for their citizens residing in a registration area to be included in the register of local government electors for that area.

In addition, Regulation 4 and Part II of the Schedule to the Regulations prescribe a new form of words for use as part of the application for registration form provided by registration officers. The Regulations revoke the provisions of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2002, which had previously prescribed the form of canvass and the form of words to be included with the canvass form about the two versions of the register.

(2)

1983 c. 2; section 10 was substituted by Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c. 2); section 201(3) was inserted by Schedule 1 to that Act.

(3)

Transfer of Functions (Transport, Local Government and the Regions) Order 2002, S.I. 2002/2626, article 11.

(4)

S.I. 2001/341, amended by S.I. 2001/1700, S.I. 2002/881 and S.I. 2002/1871.

(5)

S.I. 2002/1871.

(6)

Regulation 26(6) was inserted by S.I. 2002/1871, regulation 8(6).