Ban anyone convicted of terrorism offences from standing for public office

Introduce a new legal disqualification so people convicted of terrorism offences (in the UK or abroad) cannot stand as candidates or hold elected office, including local councils.

More details

This is needed because current local election disqualification rules focus mainly on recent imprisonment thresholds (for example, being sentenced to 3 months or more within the last 5 years) and therefore may not prevent individuals with serious historic convictions from standing today. The Electoral Commission notes that the returning officer cannot confirm whether a candidate is disqualified and candidates self-declare their eligibility when submitting nomination papers.

The government's response

We currently have no plans to change the disqualification criteria for these offences. Currently anyone who has been convicted of any offence in the UK and receives a custodial sentence of three months or more, suspended or not, is disqualified for five years from standing or sitting as a member of an English local authority. Candidates must declare that they are not disqualified from standing for or holding local office. Making a false statement is potentially a criminal offence. Other disqualification criteria applying to councillors in England include: • Those under certain bankruptcy restrictions. • Those disqualified for illegal or corrupt election practices. • Those subject to certain notification requirements or a relevant order relating to sexual offences. • Those disqualified when convicted of certain intimidatory criminal offences against certain persons, including candidates of a relevant elective office. The UK has one of the strongest counter terrorism frameworks in the world. This includes a range of specialised counter terrorism powers which support detection and disruption of terrorist risk, as well as a robust toolkit for managing terrorist offenders upon their release. We always keep this framework under review to ensure it is fit for purpose in the context of emerging threats. This is supported through independent scrutiny provided by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/759385)

Opened 30 January 2026. Text and figures from the official UK Government and Parliament petitions service. Sign it on petition.parliament.uk.