Scottish Local Government Elections (Candidacy Rights of Commonwealth Citizens) Bill: EQIA

Executive summary

The Scottish Local Government Elections (Candidacy Rights of Commonwealth Citizens) Bill will extend candidacy rights at local government elections to Commonwealth citizens with limited leave to remain in the UK. It addresses an unintended gap created by the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025, which was intended to extend candidacy rights to all foreign nationals resident in Scotland with any form of leave to remain. The changes in the Bill will mean that Commonwealth citizens with limited leave are treated consistently with other foreign nationals for the purposes of candidacy rights.

The change in this Bill has a positive impact on the protected characteristic of race, as it advances equality of opportunity by ensuring all foreign nationals resident in Scotland have the same rights to stand for election. This EQIA does not find any negative impacts as a result of the change being made, and due to the limited scope of the Bill, has no impact on other protected characteristics.