Political Parties and Elections Act 2009

Political Parties and Elections Act 2009[a]
Act of Parliament
coat of arms
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to make provision in connection with the Electoral Commission; to make provision about political donations, loans and related transactions and about political expenditure; and to make provision about elections and electoral registration.
Citation2009 c. 12
Introduced byJack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Justice (Commons)
Lord Bach (Lords)
Territorial extent 
[b]
Dates
Royal assent21 July 2009
Commencementvarious[c]
Other legislation
Amends
Amended by
  • Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013
  • Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014
  • European Parliamentary Elections Etc. (Repeal, Revocation, Amendment and Saving Provisions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018
  • Sentencing Act 2020
  • Transfer of Functions (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) Order 2021
  • Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Commencement No. 33) and Sentencing Act 2020 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2022
Status: Amended
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended
Text of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 (c. 12) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It implemented the proposals contained in the government white paper on "Party Finance and Expenditure in the United Kingdom" published on 16 June 2008.[1]

Provisions

The act allows the Electoral Commission to question all donors individuals to companies, in any future investigation.[2]

The act allows for UK political parties to be required to only accept donations from individuals who pay tax in the UK.[3] Initially this was delayed until the 2010 general election.[4] As of 2022, provision has not come into force.[5]

The act allowed for electoral local authorities to collect personal identifiers (such as date of birth, signature and national insurance number) alongside the existing process of household registration, in order for individual electoral registration to be implemented in the future.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Section 44.
  2. ↑ Section 42.
  3. ↑ Section 43.

References

  • Halsbury's Statutes,
  • Justin Fisher. "Political Parties and Elections Act 2009". Current Law Statutes Annotated 2009. Sweet & Maxwell. Thomson Reuters. 2010. Volume 1. Chapter 12. pp 12-1 to 12-86.
  • Bradley and Ewing. Constitutional and Administrative Law. Fifteenth Edition. Pearson. 2011. pp 148, 150, 157, 160, 165 & 187.
  • Alder and Syrett. Constitutional and Administrative Law. Eleventh Edition. Palgrave Law Masters. 2017. pp 295, 296, 306 & 307.
  • Paul Reid. Public Law. Third Edition. W Green. 2015. pp 92, 95, 96 & 172.
  • Johnstone and Pattie. Money and Electoral Politics: Local Parties and Funding at General Elections. Policy Press. 2014. pp 35, 37, 133, 155, 163 & 177.
  1. ↑ Explanatory notes, paragraph 3
  2. ↑ Hencke, David (27 October 2008). "Watchdog to be given extra powers to question donors". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  3. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (3 August 2009). "Eric Pickles: 'I don't think it's anywhere close to being in the bag'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  4. ↑ Syal, Rajeev (2 August 2009). "Labour quietly postpones law banning non-doms from funding political parties". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  5. ↑ Rennard, Chris (5 April 2022). "Political donations from non-doms should be curtailed". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  6. ↑ "Voting fraud crackdown promised". BBC News. 3 March 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2026.


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