From 7 May 2024 (five days after the 2024 elections held on 2 May 2024), there will be changes to the voting and candidacy rights for EU citizens.
What will change?
EU Citizens currently have an automatic right to register to vote, to vote and stand in local election here in Tower Hamlets but from 7 May, this automatic right will be removed.
Instead, the right to stand and vote at local elections will be reserved only for some EU citizens.
The exceptions are:
- Qualifying EU citizens who come from countries which have reciprocal agreements with the UK (currently this is Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, and Spain)
- EU citizens with retained rights, who were living in the UK before 1 January 2021 (before the UK left the EU).