New to the UK > Do EU citizens have the right to vote in the UK?

Do EU citizens have the right to vote in the UK?

Wollit Team2 minute read · Updated 23rd July 2024

Until Brexit, EU citizens living in the UK had full rights to vote in the local elections. However, these rights have changed quite a bit recently.

These changes, introduced as part of the Elections Act, will apply to local elections, mayoral elections, Greater London Assembly elections in England, local and Assembly elections in Northern Ireland, and Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales that take place on or after 7 May 2024.

Here’s what the new changes mean for you.

If I’m a EU citizen, can I still vote in the UK?

It depends where you’re from:

If you’re a citizen of Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, or Spain, and you have either settled or pre-settled status.
Or if you’re a citizen of any other EU country and you had settled or pre-settled status as of 31 December 2020, and this has continued without a break.
If you’re a citizen of Ireland, Cyprus, or Malta living in the UK then you can still vote in all elections held in the UK, not only the local ones we mentioned.

If you live in Wales or Scotland, then you can also vote in the Scottish Parliament, Senedd, and local council elections there. In fact, all EU citizens are still eligible to vote in these elections.

Do I need to do anything?

In most cases, no. Right now local councils in England and Wales and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland are reviewing the eligibility of all the EU citizens who are registered to vote in their area.

As part of this review, they might get in touch with you to let you know if you’re eligible or not. You might also be asked to provide information that will be used to confirm whether you are still eligible to vote.

Why is registering to vote important for EU citizens living in the UK?

Registering to vote in the UK is not only about having a say in who leads your council or who gets a seat in Parliament; it also plays a crucial role for your finances:

Being on the electoral roll helps lenders confirm your identity and address. This is important because it shows that you are a real person living at a stable address.
Registering to vote can provide a quick boost to your credit score – this can be as high as 50 points on the Experian scale. Since the credit reference agencies use the electoral roll to verify your information, registering can give you this bonus as an incentive for helping them confirm your identity.
Beyond improving your credit score, registering to vote can also make it easier to access certain services.
Being on the electoral roll also offers some protection against identity theft.

Because registering to vote is so important in the UK, if you are not eligible to vote then you should add a "Notice of Correction" to your credit file. This explains your situation to lenders, preventing them from penalising you for not being on the electoral roll.

One thing to keep in mind here: while registering to vote can give a quick boost to your credit score, the most important factor in improving your score is having a history of on-time payments.

One effective tool for building this history is Wollit.

Wollit is an app that reports your monthly subscription payments to the credit reference agencies. This helps you establish a credit history and may improve your credit score. On top of this, Wollit can also report your monthly rent payments to Experian, which adds another positive entry to your credit report, showing lenders that you are responsible and consistently pay your bills on time.