Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill

Overview

The Scottish Government is proposing some changes to the laws relating to the 2021 general elections in Scotland.

The proposals are set out in the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill. The bill was published on 16 November 2020.

The Policy Memorandum has been prepared by the Scottish Government to set out the Government’s policy behind the bill.

You are invited to provide your views on these proposals to the Scottish Parliament’s Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee.

How do the Scottish Government’s proposals become law?

The Scottish Parliament has to examine and approve any bill before it becomes law. The procedures which the Parliament has to follow are explained here.

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee (SPPA Committee) will be examining the Scottish General Election (Coronavirus) Bill at Stage 1 of this process.

Stage 1 involves a committee of the Parliament considering the “general principles” of the bill (what the bill is trying to do and how it plans to do it).

The Committee will gather views on the bill from interested people before publishing a report on the bill. The whole Scottish Parliament will then decide whether the bill should continue to the next stage.