The Scottish Government is planning to introduce new legislation that would allow Commonwealth citizens on limited leave to remain in the UK to stand in local council elections, after identifying a loophole in electoral laws passed last year, the Daily Mail reports.The bill is expected to be introduced after the Scottish Parliament returns from its summer recess, with the aim of making changes before local authority elections scheduled for May 2027.The legislation, which came into force in August 2025, was intended to allow foreign nationals with limited leave to stay to contest elections. However, it later emerged that Commonwealth citizens with the same immigration status were not covered by local council election rules.Parliamentary Business Secretary Jamie Hepburn said the omission was unintentional and did not reflect the purpose of the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act.“We have identified a loophole in the provisions,” Hepburn said, adding that the government wants Parliament to “resolve this anomaly” before next year’s council elections.The proposed amendment applies only to local government elections. The government said the issue did not affect the eligibility of Commonwealth citizens on limited leave to remain to stand for the Scottish Parliament.
The move comes after the election of Keo Manivannan, an India-born member of the Scottish Green Party, who became the first person without permanent leave to remain in the UK to win a seat in the Scottish Parliament.The planned changes have drawn criticism from political opponents. A Holyrood source told the Daily Mail: “It is strange that just weeks after the Keo Manivannan saga, the SNP is trying to encourage more foreign nationals with limited right to remain to stand in next year’s local council elections.We could end up with a situation where dozens of newly elected councilors will either be unable to serve a full term, which will cost taxpayers millions in needless by-elections, or potentially serve out their terms halfway around the world. “People will rightly find it outrageous that this is the SNP’s top priority.”The Scottish Government said it had received no indication that any Commonwealth citizen on limited leave to remain had actually been elected as a councilor under the current rules.
