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Section 79: Qualifications for election and holding office as member of local authority.

Local Government Act 1972 · 1972 c. 70View on legislation.gov.uk

Part V: General Provisions as to Members and Proceedings of Local Authorities

A person shall, unless disqualified by virtue of this Act or any other enactment, be qualified to be elected and to be a member of a local authority ... if he is a qualifying Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland or , in the case of a local authority in England, a qualifying EU citizen or an EU citizen with retained rights or, in the case of a local authority in Wales, a qualifying foreign citizen and on the relevant day he has attained the age of eighteen years and—

on that day he is and thereafter he continues to be a local government elector for the area of the authority; or
he has during the whole of the twelve months preceding that day occupied as owner or tenant any land or other premises in that area; or
his principal or only place of work during that twelve months has been in that area; or
he has during the whole of those twelve months resided in that area; or
in the case of a member of a parish or community council he has during the whole of those twelve months resided either in the parish or community or within three miles of it.

In this section "relevant day", in relation to any candidate, means—

except in the case of an election not preceded by the nomination of candidates, the day on which he is nominated as a candidate and also, if there is a poll, the day of election; and
in the said excepted case, the day of election.

In this section "qualifying EU citizen" and "EU citizen with retained rights" have the same meaning as in the Representation of the People Act 1983 (see sections 203A and 203B of that Act).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the purposes of this section, a person is a qualifying Commonwealth citizen if he is a Commonwealth citizen who either—

is not a person who requires leave under the Immigration Act 1971 to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or
is such a person but for the time being has (or is, by virtue of any enactment, to be treated as having) indefinite leave to remain within the meaning of that Act.

But a person is not a qualifying Commonwealth citizen by virtue of subsection (2B)(a) if he does not require leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom by virtue only of section 8 of the Immigration Act 1971 (exceptions to requirement for leave in special cases).

For the purposes of this section, a person is a qualifying foreign citizen if the person—

is not a Commonwealth citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland or a relevant citizen of the Union, and
either—
is not a person who requires leave under the Immigration Act 1971 to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or
is such a person but for the time being has (or is, by virtue of any enactment, to be treated as having) indefinite leave to remain within the meaning of that Act.

But a person is not a qualifying foreign citizen by virtue of subsection (2D)(b)(i) if the person does not require leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom by virtue only of section 8 of the Immigration Act 1971 (exceptions to requirement for leave in special cases).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.