A consultation on reforming laws governing how elections and referendums take place has been launched today.

The Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have set out provisional plans for simplifying 25 separate major statutes which legal experts feel have made the electoral system increasingly complex and difficult to use.

Polls and referendums governing councillors, mayors, police and crime commissioners Westminster MPs and the devolved assemblies have their own set of regulations, and this has led to a proliferation of electoral laws, the Commissions have claimed.