Gilbert's Bill makes its way to the House of Lords
This 'Ballot Bill' or private members bill received its second reading on 17 January 2025 and has been making progress through the Commons. It will now be considered by the House of Lords where it has already had its first reading. It is open to any MP who is not a government minister to propose a Private Members' Bill, and then they can proceed with it if their bill is chosen in the ballot.
There were 458 MPs in the ballot in autumn 2024 – and two of those who were successful were Edinburgh MPs. The topic is chosen by the MP themselves but usually tries to change the law in a specific area. Scott Arthur MP was the other and he chose to pursue the matter of Rare Cancers which is also now in the House of Lords.
Ms Gilbert told The Edinburgh Reporter: 'My bill has gone through all the stages in the House of Commons and we now need it to pass through the Lords. I'm still waiting to hear from the civil servants when that'll happen, but fingers crossed it should become law. And the bill is about absent voting. So in October '23, the UK gGovernment introduced an online digital service to enable people to apply online for a proxy or an absent voting application. If you were going to be on holiday for the general election or if you were not able to vote and you wanted to have someone else voting on your behalf you could apply online. But that only applied to England and Scotland and Wales for General Elections. It didn't apply for Scottish Government and Senedd elections, or for local government elections. My law, if passed, will enable us to use that digital service in Scotland and Wales for all elections so we're trying to get that through so that it's in place for May 2026.'
She also explained that at the General Election in 2024 some 1.5 million people applied online for an online or proxy vote. And 90% of the people who applied were successful. Ms Gilbert said: 'Although it's a technical and geeky bill, it's actually quite nice because it changes the Scotland Act and the Welsh Act and Electoral Act and actually it will help, hopefully, our democracy and encourage people to use their democratic right to vote.'
Any MP can be chosen in this lottery to champion a Private Members Bill and it can be on any subject but Ms Gilbert explained that it cannot cost money to pass the legislation. She sifted through quite a number of bills but this was the ones landed on. And she was most complimentary of the civil servants. She said: 'Thank goodness for the civil servants, because this has been their life working on this piece of legislation in the background. Long before I was even thought of as an MP, there's these bits of legislation or bills that people are thinking about which might be useful for the rest of the UK.
'Their knowledge and experience really leads and guides you between the civil servants and the clerks in the House of Commons, tailoring how you manage to pass this legislation and make it your own. They help support you through all the technical stages of the bill with amendments and making sure that it goes through smoothly without any problems. And also working with The Scottish Government and working with the Welsh Senedd and UK Government.'
Tracy Gilbert MP speaking to The Edinburgh Reporter from her Westminster office
Tracy Gilbert MP in the House of Commons in 2024 when her Ballot Bill was chosen.
Ms Gilbert said at the time she was picked: 'My Bill will end the anomaly in Scotland and Wales where you can apply online for a postal or proxy vote for General Elections, but not devolved or local elections. This will make it easier and simpler to get a postal or proxy vote in the 2026 elections.' When the general election was called in July 2024 by then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it was held on 4 July which is when most children in Scotland are already on holiday from school. The bill will make it easier for voters to retain their right to vote if they are going on holiday or are otherwise unable to attend to vote in person.
When her bill achieved its third reading, Ms Gilbert said that during the passage of this proposed legislation she has 'received quite an education in the legislative process'.
She continued: 'The introduction of the online absent voting application service has given electors in England, Scotland and Wales the option to apply online for a postal or proxy vote in UK general elections. Electors in England are also given the option to use the online service to apply for a postal or proxy vote for all other types of election that they can participate in. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for voters in Scotland and Wales. As it stands, voters in Scotland and Wales face a fragmented system in which they may apply online for a postal or proxy vote for a UK General Election but still rely on filling out paper forms for their local council or devolved Parliament elections. The Bill enables that inconsistency to be ended.
'In short, the Bill will allow for the extension of the same online application options to voters in Scotland and Wales for devolved elections. The goal is to have the measures in place ahead of the devolved elections scheduled for May 2026.'
In supporting the bill Peter Lamb MP for Crawley said: 'As a country, we have an increasingly confusing set of election arrangements. Many different types of electoral systems are employed, there are different age arrangements in different places and there are different rules around this, that and the other. When people think that one set of rules is in play and in fact, given a particular context, there is another, that creates growing problems with confidence in our electoral system. Although it is a challenge, it is important to our democracy that, as far as possible, the general public understand how the systems operate, how they select their governors and how they express their voice. That is a critical part of the UK retaining genuine democratic accountability.
'The more that can be done to harmonise arrangements across the entire United Kingdom, and to ensure that there is a much simpler approach to people expressing their views to us, the greater the level of confidence in the system. Having two different sets of arrangements around casting votes cannot do much to encourage people to engage in the process.'
Tracy Gilbert MP in the House of Commons
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