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

The Scope of the EQIA

This EQIA has assessed the potential impact of the Bill by considering whether the equality evidence indicates potential differential impacts on persons with protected characteristics or provides an opportunity to improve equality in an area. In line with the requirements of the general equality duty, it considers the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the act;
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not; and
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Bill has one substantive provision, which extends candidacy rights at local government elections to citizens of Commonwealth countries with limited leave to remain in the UK. This will bring the candidacy rights of this group into line with all other resident foreign nationals in Scotland, as was the intention behind the 2025 Act. This EQIA assesses the impact of this change.

The following protected characteristics have been considered in the EQIA:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

Consultation

As this Bill is correcting an inadvertent oversight from the 2025 Act, the Scottish Government has not conducted additional consultation on this issue. A public consultation was conducted prior to the introduction of the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill, and as part of this consultation questions were asked on the extension of candidacy rights to foreign nationals with limited leave to remain at both Scottish Parliament and local government elections. The responses to the consultation contributed to the policy formation for that Bill, and an independent analysis of the results of the consultation was published.