From 7 May 2024, European Union (EU) citizens are no longer automatically entitled to register to vote and stand for election.
Two groups of EU citizens will retain their voting and candidacy rights:
- ‘qualifying EU citizens' – citizens of EU countries with which the UK has reciprocal voting and candidacy agreements. These countries are currently Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain (also known as the EU5). The agreements mean that we allow their citizens who are resident in the UK to vote in our local elections (but not UK Parliamentary elections) and they allow our citizens who are resident in their countries to vote in their elections
- ‘EU citizens with retained rights' – citizens of other EU countries who were already legally resident in the UK before 31 December 2020
This change will not affect the rights of citizens from Ireland, Malta or Cyprus.